On September 29, 2022, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Custom Elevator announced a recall of certain residential elevators after a 7-year-old child died after becoming entrapped. This deadly incident occurred in July 2021 while the child was with their family at their vacation home in North Carolina. The recall affects residential elevators manufactured by Custom Elevators with either hydraulic drives or winding drum drives and applies only to home elevators that have swing-style landing doors. The company has found that young children can become entrapped in the space between the exterior landing door and the interior elevator car door. Children stuck in this hazardous gap can be severely injured or killed when the elevator is called to another floor.
Custom Elevators manufactured these residential elevators and sold the units to elevator contractors from 2003 through August 2022 for between $10,000 and $25,000. The Custom Elevators brand name is located on the control unit as well as the hydraulic power unit. The company has indicated that all home elevators with swing-style landing doors should be measured for hazardous gaps to confirm if safety devices are required. Owners of these elevators have been instructed to keep young children away from the recalled residential elevators and contact Custom Elevator for free space guards to eliminate the hazardous gaps. If you or a loved one have been injured or killed by a defective product, the experienced trial lawyers at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner are ready, willing, and able to fight for you and your family to obtain the compensation you deserve.