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Lane offers safer latches for pre-1988 cedar chests

By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, February 17, 2002

TUPELO, Miss. — Lane Home Furnishings has offered to replace some 6.5 million latches on cedar chests made before 1988. The latches lock when closed, possibly trapping small children inside.

"We're offering owners a new, safer lock free of charge," said Tom Foy, president and chief executive officer. "The new locks, which have been installed on all Lane chests since 1987, must be latched manually from outside the chest."

Foy said Lane will ship a new lock to consumers who have the chests, made under the Lane or Virginia Maid names. The replacement locks are nearly identical to the old ones and can be installed easily after unscrewing and removing the old lock, he said.

Lane made about 12 million cedar chests from 1912 to 1987, and estimates about 6.5 million still exist.

Last July, Lane agreed to pay $900,000 to the Consumer Product Safety Commission to end an investigation into the accidental deaths of seven children playing inside its chests. Lane, a division of Furniture Brands International, didn't admit any wrongdoing.

Lane began an effort in 1996 to inform the public about the locks, offering free replacements. The company said it has received more than 100,000 calls and replaced tens of thousands of locks since then, but wants to do more.

Consumers can reach Lane at (888) 856-8758 or through a Web site, www.newlock.net, to order the locks. They need the chest's serial and style numbers, branded on the outside bottom or outside back.

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