Home elevators feel like a luxury amenity — but the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warns they have become a deadly hazard for young children, particularly in vacation rental homes. CPSC is aware of 41 deaths associated with elevators between 2018 and 2021. Over the past several years, CPSC has recalled more than 100,000 residential elevators due to a single, industrywide child entrapment hazard — a dangerous gap between the exterior landing door and the interior elevator car door or gate.
How Children Are Being Killed
When there is a hazardous gap between a residential elevator’s exterior hoistway door and its interior car door, a young child can become trapped in that space. If another person calls the elevator to a different floor, the exterior door locks — pinning the child between the two doors as the elevator moves. Children have suffered multiple skull fractures, fractured vertebrae, traumatic asphyxia, and other catastrophic and lifelong injuries in these incidents. In July 2021, a 7-year-old boy died after becoming entrapped in a residential elevator at a vacation rental home in North Carolina. A 2-year-old child also died, and a 3-year-old was left permanently disabled, in incidents involving these elevators.
Recalled Elevator Brands
CPSC has issued recalls involving residential elevators manufactured by multiple companies, including Bella Elevator LLC, Inclinator Company of America, Savaria Corporation, Custom Elevator, and Residential Elevators, Inc. CPSC also filed a lawsuit against thyssenkrupp Access Corp. when the company initially refused to initiate a recall. Consumers who own or stay in a home with a residential elevator should check whether their unit is subject to any of these recalls at SaferProducts.gov.
How to Check Your Elevator Right Now
CPSC recommends the following safety checks for any residential elevator:
- Make sure that the gap between the exterior hoistway door and the interior car door or gate is no more than four inches deep. A gap larger than this creates an entrapment hazard for young children.
- If you have an elevator in your home, contact the manufacturer to determine if your unit is subject to recall and to request free space guards to eliminate any hazardous gap.
- If you are staying at a vacation rental with an elevator, keep young children away from it entirely unless you have personally verified the gap is safe.
- If a child becomes entrapped in an elevator, immediately turn off all power to the elevator and call 911.
To report a dangerous elevator or a product-related injury, visit SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC’s Hotline at 800-638-2772.
