May 19, 2003
Swimways
Corp., of Virginia Beach, Va., is voluntarily recalling about 25,000 packages
of dive sticks (each package contains four dive sticks), which fail to meet the
commission’s safety requirements. Children can fall or land on these dive
sticks in shallow water and may suffer impalement injuries.
These are “Swim Ways Deluxe Dive Buddies” weighted dive sticks. The dive sticks
are soft plastic tubes that have character heads and feet. The characters are a
yellow seahorse, a green and purple walrus, a red and blue underwater diver,
and a blue shark. The dive sticks are about 7.5 inches long and an inch in
diameter. When dropped into water, they sink to the bottom of a pool and stand
upright so children can swim or dive down and retrieve them. There is no
writing on the products except numbers located on the backs that represent the
dive stick’s point value. The cardboard-backed packaging shows a photo of fish
and coral in an underwater scene. Writing on the packaging includes “Swim
Ways,” “Deluxe Dive Buddies” and “Made in China.”
Specialty pool stores nationwide sold these dive sticks from December 2002
through May 2003 for about $6.
Consumers should take these dive sticks away from children immediately and
contact Swimways for information on receiving a refund or free replacement
product. For more information, contact Swimways at (800) 889-7946 between 8:30
a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at http://www.swimways.com/dive-stick-recall.asp. Consumers
also can write to Swimways Corp., 5816 Ward Court, Virginia Beach, VA 23455.