Biggest product recalls

A global product recall is one of the worst nightmares for CEOs and consumer companies. Here’s a look at some of the biggest in recent history.

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Drop-side cribs by Stork Craft (2009)

The Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled 2.1 million drop-side cribs after four children suffocated in the cribs. Safety regulators said the cribs had problems with their hardware or that they were assembled improperly by purchasers. This was just one of a number of crib recalls from big-name companies including Evenflo and Pottery Barn Kids. In December 2010, the government outlawed drop-side cribs. More than 30 infants and toddlers died from 2000 to 2010 because of problems with the cribs.

/ AP

Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Toys (2007)

Dangerous toys, including a Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway, recalled because of excessive levels of lead paint, are on display during a news conference about toy safety in 2007. At least 1.5 million of the Thomas & Friends railway toys by RC2 were recalled that year.

Toby Talbot / AP

Easy-Bank Ovens by Hasbro (2007)

Easy Bake Oven, an iconic toy with a four-decade history, was recalled for the second time in less than a year in 2007. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled nearly 1 million of the toys in February after some children's hands or fingers were "caught in the oven's opening" the agency said. There were also reports that some children were burned while playing with the oven. Not too long after that, the CPSC recalled nearly another million of the Easy Bake ovens after a 5-year-old girl had to get part of her finger amputated after receiving a serious burn from the toy.

Anonymous / AP

Toyota and Lexus cars (2009 to 2010)

Toyota service technician Tungyio Saelee performs a recall repair on a brand new Toyota Camry at City Toyota on Feb. 5, 2010, in Daly City, Calif. In January 2010, the automaker issued a recall for more than 2 million vehicles for a gas-pedal issue. The recall was the largest ever for Toyota and among the largest recalls in U.S automaker history.

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Window blinds (2009)

A roll-up blind was recalled in December 2009 because its corded loop posed a strangulation hazard for children. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said about 500 children have been strangled by the cords of blinds and shades since the early 1980s, an average of about one child each month. The death figures make blinds and shades some of the deadliest products subject to recalls announced by the safety agency in the past 15 years.

/ AP

Firestone tires (2000)

Steve Balogh walks to his Ford Explorer equipped with the recalled Firestone Radial ATX tires at a National Tire and Battery store in Dallas. Bridgestone/Firestone announced a voluntary recall of 6.5 million tires in 2000 after the government began investigating complaints that link the tires to nearly 300 failures and at least 46 deaths in the past three years.

L.M. Otero / AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

epa03708924 Franziska (C) wears a helmet and carries a shield during the recreation of The Battle of the Teutoburg Museum in Bramsche, Germany, 20 May 2013. The everyday life of Romans and the Germanic people is depicted at Museum Park Kalkriese during the Romans and Germanic people days. EPA/Friso Gentsch

Photos of the day

Battle of Teutoburg Forest reenactment, Mars Curiosity rover drilling, massive tornado strikes Moore, Oklahoma and more.

A Burrowing owl tries to perch on a protective rope in a public park in Cooper City, Fla. Monday, May 20, 2013 as rain falls. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Animal views

Fun and fascinating creatures around the world.

ANNAPOLIS, MD - MAY 20: The Herndon Monument Climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the United States Naval Academy. The plebes climb to the top of the lard-covered 21 foot high monument and remove the 'dixie cup' hat at the top replacing it with an upperclassman's hat. After completing this, the freshmen are called 'fourth class midshipmen.' This class completed the task in 1 hour 32 minutes and 43 seconds. The hat was placed by Patrick Lien from Orlando. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

The Herndon Climb

The Herndon Monument climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the U.S. Naval Academy.

This combination of Associated Press photos shows left, a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., in ruins on Tuesday, May 4, 1999, after a tornado flattened many houses and buildings in central Oklahoma, and right, flattened houses in Moore on Monday, May 20, 2013. Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. (AP Photo)

Okla. tornado loosely followed path of 1999 twister

Monday’s powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the area in May 1999.

Lea Bessinger salvages a picture of Jesus as she and her son Josh Bessinger sort through the rubble of the elder Bessinger's tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Tornado near Oklahoma City causes more damage

Rescue workers are searching for survivors after a twister carved a long path of destruction in a suburb of Oklahoma City. It was part of the...

FILE - In this undated publicity file photo, members of the Doors, from left, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, pose for a portrait. Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of The Doors, has died at 74. Publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says in a news release that Manzarek died Monday, May 20, 2013, at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family. (AP Photo, File)

Ray Manzarek, founding member of the Doors, dies at 74

Manzarek co-founded the Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock-and-roll...

US actress Rosario Dawson smiles on May 20, 2013 as she arrives for the screening of the film 'Wara No Tate' (Shield of Straw) presented in Competition at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. Cannes, one of the world's top film festivals, opened on May 15 and will climax on May 26 with awards selected by a jury headed this year by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLIALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images

Eye on entertainment

Rosario Dawson, Alec Baldwin, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Bow Wow, Amy Poehler and more.

A man walks on sulphur and mineral salt formations near Dallol in the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest and harshest environments on earth, with an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). For centuries, merchants have travelled there with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted and shaped into slabs, then loaded onto the animals before being transported back across the desert so that it can be sold around the country. Picture taken April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (ETHIOPIA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 2 OF 30 FOR PACKAGE 'ETHIOPIA'S ANCIENT SALT TRAIL'
SEARCH 'DANAKIL DEPRESSION' FOR ALL

Ethiopia’s salt trail

For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...

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