A pool toy designed to sink can become dangerous when its shape and stiffness let it stand upright in shallow water. Federal regulators expanded a recall of Sloosh dive sticks after determining that three models did not compress as required. The danger is a piercing injury if a child falls or lands on one of the sticks.
The expansion covers a much larger group than the original June action, so families who checked once may need to check again.
Three Sloosh model numbers are included
The July 30 Consumer Product Safety Commission notice covers Sloosh models 40041, 40003 and 16154. The total is about 404,000 dive sticks, including 254,000 model 40041 sticks included in a June 11 recall. Models 40003 and 16154 were added in the expansion.
Model 40041 appears in a 30-piece Sloosh water-toy box that contains five dive sticks. Model 40003 appears in an 18-piece box with four dive sticks, while model 16154 was sold as a set of eight sticks. Other toys packaged with the recalled sticks are not part of the action.
Labels separate affected sticks from similar pool toys
The 40041 and 40003 numbers are printed near the barcode on the back of the box and on the end of a dive stick. The 16154 number appears above the barcode on its polybag and on the end of each stick. Joyin’s name and tracking information are also molded or printed on the product.
The sticks are hard-plastic cylinders in several colors, about seven inches long and roughly one inch or less in diameter. Color alone is not a dependable identifier because multiple versions use similar bright finishes. Packaging, order history and the number on the stick provide a better match.
Shallow water creates the impalement scenario
Federal rules limit how rigid a dive stick can be because a vertical stick can remain planted on the bottom. A child who jumps, slips or dives into shallow water can land on that narrow end with substantial force. Regulators warn of piercing injuries as well as possible facial and eye injuries during underwater retrieval.
The warning does not mean that every recalled stick has already caused an injury. It means the design failed the federal compression requirement intended to reduce the severity of a foreseeable pool accident. No incidents or injuries had been reported when the expansion was announced.
Sales records stretch across several retailers
The recalled packages were sold through Amazon, Temu, Wayfair, Target and Shein, with the retailer list varying by model. The sales periods reach back to 2017 for model 40003, to 2019 for model 40041 and to 2023 for model 16154. Prices ranged from about $10 to $22.
That long window makes storage areas important. Pool toys often remain in deck boxes, garages or vacation homes for several seasons, long after packaging is discarded. Families may also have split a multipiece package among households, leaving recalled sticks in more than one location.
Replacement requires disposal photographs
CPSC directs owners to stop using the sticks, remove them from children and dispose of the affected pieces. Joyin asks for a photograph showing the discarded sticks in the trash, sent to the company’s recall email. The company then provides redesigned sticks that meet the federal requirement.
Only the recalled dive sticks need to be removed from the multipiece toy packages. Until the model is confirmed, keeping any matching rigid cylinder out of the pool prevents the specific shallow-water scenario. Recalled sticks should not be donated or passed to another family.
A useful check begins with the number on the end of the stick rather than its color. The July expansion is recent, includes the earlier units and remains the clearest guide to the affected models and replacement process.
Pool rules for dive toys address a predictable posture: a narrow weighted object can settle vertically where a swimmer enters. Soft or flexible designs reduce the force concentrated at one point. The recalled cylinders exceeded the compression limit, so supervision alone cannot change the physical property regulators identified.
Retailer listings may no longer display the original product page, particularly for packages sold years ago. Archived order details, email receipts and photographs can still reveal the model. Joyin’s contact information on the federal notice provides a route when a marketplace search produces only newer redesigned versions.
Anyone who sees a recalled stick offered for resale can point the seller to the federal notice. Passing it along leaves the same shallow-water hazard in circulation and may also violate restrictions on selling recalled products. Disposal followed by replacement closes that path.
Pool owners should check the recall before the first swim of a season, not after the toys are already scattered through the water. Model checks performed during setup keep the decision separate from the distraction of children waiting to enter the pool.
The reported absence of injuries should not be read as proof of harmlessness. The federal compression rule is preventive: it addresses the foreseeable severity of landing on a rigid object before a serious piercing incident has to establish the danger.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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