After the recent deaths of two Boston-area children, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is urging a renewed search for older Lane and Virginia Maid cedar hope chests.
Lexi Munroe, 8, and her brother Sean, 7, died in January after an apparent game of hide-and-seek turned tragic. They became trapped inside an old hope chest and suffocated. Their cries could not be heard over a loud television, according to investigators in Franklin, Mass.
That hope chest in one sibling's bedroom had been part of a massive recall initially announced a generation ago, before the family purchased it second-hand at a resale shop.
In 1996, 12 million Lane and Virginia Maid chests were recalled after six children had died.
Those recalled chests, made between 1912 and 1987, have a fatal flaw: the lock. It automatically latches shut and cannot be opened from the inside.
Since that recall, at least nine more children have died in similar incidents. They climb into the chest, pull it shut, and when it latches, it is airtight.
"Very little air is trapped in there, so if a child panics, that consumes more air," said Sergio Vega with Safe Kids Metro San Antonio.
The Munroe siblings were trapped in the chest for fewer than two hours.
Their deaths prompted the Consumer Product Safety Commission and child safety advocates to renew a search for the chests.
"There's about 6 million cedar chests, hope chests, still out there that may be in homes," Vega said.
A search on Craigslist and eBay turned up hundreds of older chests listed for sale. Selling or attempting to sell a recalled product is illegal.
Anyone who has one of the recalled chests can get free replacement latches and locks that can be opened from the inside.
Click here to visit the company's website or call 800-327-6944.
In the meantime, owners are urged to remove the hardware.
Lane chests are not the only potential danger. The CPSC also warns about any type of chest, trunk, toy box or storage ottoman that may lock automatically.