This time it's not the Chinese, it's stupid Americans

[Porsche-O-Phile]

http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/21/news/crib_recall/index.htm?cnn=yes

I guess the Chinese didn't get the memo about 'merkans being too stupid to assemble a piece of furniture correctly and having to protect people from themselves.

I guess they need more lawyers over there.

[Nathans_Dad]

Perhaps you might look to the instruction manual and make sure it is actually readable and clear before you indict the stupid 'Mericans. Having put together a few Made in China items, I can tell you those instructions aren't worth the paper they are printed on.

[GDSOB]

I had this problem on a similar crib with the exact same hardware. I assembled it correctly, the design is flawed and the manufacturer did not have a stop to keep the rail from falling off if pushed hard enough.

It was probably designed in the US anyway.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

You have a point - there is a part of the article where it mentions that even some of the correctly installed retainers failed, which is a design flaw.

Certainly someone being dumb enough to install it upside-down (it seems pretty intuitive to me looking at it, which way should be up) probably isn't helping themselves any. Maybe it's a form of Darwinism at work, at least partially.

[Jim Sims]

"Certainly someone being dumb enough to install it upside-down"

Good design practice takes human factors into account. The best designs are those that can't readily be installed backwards or inverted by utilizing part symmetry or features that only engage when the part is in the correct orientation. Good design requires knowledge, time and skill and hence adds cost so don't expect to find it (or quality for that matter) in the cheaper goods.