Guide · updated 3 November 2026

Magnet ingestion recalls: seven notices, and the exemption that decides which standard you failed

The short answer: in the 90 days to 29 October 2026 the CPSC recall feed carried 146 recalls. Seven were magnet-ingestion recalls, covering 266,411 units. Five of the seven state the product violates the mandatory toy standard (16 CFR part 1250, which requires ASTM F963-23). One states it violates the mandatory magnet standard, 16 CFR part 1262. One names no standard at all in the notice headline. That split is not a quirk: part 1262 exempts toys outright, so the same magnet can be a toy-standard failure or a magnet-standard failure depending on what you call the product.

What the 90 days of data show

Counted from the CPSC public recall feed for recalls published 6 August to 29 October 2026, pulled 3 November 2026 from the ShelfWatch recall dashboard. Magnet ingestion is 4.8% of the notices in the window and about 1.0% of the units — but the distribution inside those seven notices is the useful part.

One notice is 80% of the volume. Goody King's magnetic building cubes and blocks are 213,500 units — 80.1% of all magnet-ingestion units in the window. The second largest is 38,507. The other six notices together are 52,911 units. Read only the totals and you would conclude magnets are a big-brand problem; read the table and you see one large importer, one mid-size one, and five small ones.

The sellers are the same profile as the button-battery cluster. BUSOHA (Shenzhen Yuejia Mei Trading), PIXLABBY (Huoshan County Haozhou E-commerce), SKY CUBE HK and GBYMIUY (Ningbo Jiboyou Trading) are all China-based sellers, and two say "sold on Amazon" in the headline. Cheap magnets, marketplace listing, no test report behind the listing.

The failure descriptions are different from each other. That matters more than the unit counts, because each one points at a different stage of product development (see below).

Two rules, and the exemption that decides which one applies

The magnet rule is 16 CFR part 1262, published at 87 FR 57789 (21 September 2022), and it is short enough to read in full. Four provisions do all the work.

§ 1262.1(b) — when it applies. Subject magnet products manufactured after 21 October 2022 are in scope. There is no phase-in after that date, and no volume threshold.

§ 1262.1(c) — the exemption. "Toys that are subject to 16 CFR part 1250" are exempt from part 1262. That single sentence explains the split in the table above. A product classified and marketed as a toy for children under 14 is policed by the toy standard; a magnet product that is not a toy — jewellery, a desk toy for adults, a stress-relief item — is policed by part 1262.

§ 1262.2 — what counts. A subject magnet product is a consumer product designed, marketed or intended for entertainment, jewellery (including children's jewellery), mental stimulation or stress relief that contains one or more loose or separable magnets — excluding products sold or distributed solely to educators, researchers and commercial or industrial users. A hazardous magnet is one that fits entirely within the small-parts cylinder defined in 16 CFR 1501.4 and has a flux index of 50 kG²mm² or more.

§ 1262.3 and § 1262.4 — the test. Every loose or separable magnet that fits that cylinder must have a flux index below 50 kG²mm², measured by the procedure in ASTM F963-17 § 8.25.1–8.25.3. The test picks at least one magnet of each shape and size in the product.

Put plainly: the rule is not "no strong magnets". It is "no loose magnet small enough to swallow that is also strong enough to attract another one through intestinal wall". A 5 mm neodymium sphere clears the size test and blows past the flux limit; a magnet bonded inside a sealed housing that cannot be liberated is a different question — it is a construction question, which is what the toy standard asks about.

Which door each notice failed

Five toy-standard notices. BUSOHA and PIXLABBY fidget sliders, CuberShop speed cubes, and the two magnetic stick-figure sets. Their hazard language is nearly identical: the product "can liberate loose high-powered magnets posing an ingestion hazard to children". The CuberShop notice is the specific case — the cubes were packaged with loose high-powered magnets, not just capable of shedding them. 132 units, and still a recall.

One magnet-standard notice. The Conqueror's Avengers medals, 476 units: "the high-powered magnets may detach". Medals are worn, not played with — jewellery under § 1262.2, not a toy under part 1250, so the exemption does not apply and part 1262 does. This is the notice to read if you import any accessory with a magnetic clasp.

One that names no standard. Goody King's 213,500-unit notice describes the failure as magnets that "can become loose if the cubes break or open" — a durability and construction failure rather than a design one. It is the largest recall in the cluster and the vaguest citation, which is normal: CPSC writes the headline around the hazard, and the standard lands in the remedy and the press release detail.

Three ways a magnet gets loose

1. It was never captive. Two loose magnets in a sliding fidget toy is the product. Nothing holds them in, so the first thing a child does is take it apart. This is a design-stage failure and it cannot be fixed by a warning label.
2. It ships as a spare. CuberShop's speed cubes came with loose high-powered magnets in the box. Even a compliant cube becomes non-compliant in the packaging department — the spare parts bag is part of the product under both standards.
3. It breaks free. Goody King's cubes and blocks shed magnets when the cube breaks or opens. This is where a retaining test and a drop test would have caught it, and where the cheapest housing wins the order.

What to ask your supplier before the next purchase order

1. Ask for a flux index result, with the number. Not "strong magnets", not "N35 grade". The rule is a number: below 50 kG²mm² for any magnet that fits the 16 CFR 1501.4 cylinder, tested per ASTM F963-17 § 8.25.1–8.25.3.
2. Ask which magnets in the product were tested. § 1262.4 requires at least one magnet of each shape and size. A report covering the 6 mm disc does not cover the 3 mm sphere in the same set.
3. Ask for the retention test on the assembled product — drop, torque, tension, and the abuse sequence in the applicable standard. Goody King's failure ("if the cubes break or open") is a retention failure, and retention is testable before production.
4. Check the box for loose spares. If the set includes replacement magnets, they are in scope on their own. Removing them from the packaging is usually free.
5. Decide what the product is, then test for that. Toy for under-14s: part 1250 / ASTM F963-23, and the CPC. Jewellery, adult desk toy, stress relief: part 1262, and a GCC. Importing a "toy" that is really a fidget for adults, or the reverse, is how you end up in the wrong column.

If your SKU is already named in a notice

Stop selling on the day you read the notice. Read the official notice for the remedy and the date codes in scope, and keep evidence of customer contact. Then write to the supplier quoting the recall number and asking two questions: what changed in the magnet retention, and which other SKUs use the same magnet and the same housing. The five toy-standard notices above are five different importers selling what is effectively the same object — that is what a shared supply base looks like from the outside.

If you have information about the defect before CPSC publishes, a different clock applies: section 15(b) gives you 24 hours. And a magnet product subject to either standard needs a certificate based on testing — a CPC for a children's product, a GCC otherwise.

Related

Button battery recalls and Reese's Law — thirteen notices in the same window, and the compartment that keeps opening.
Children's Product Certificate (CPC) checklist — who signs it and what the importer files at entry.
Section 15(b): the 24-hour duty to report a defect — what starts the clock.
How to check if a product has been recalled — the four official databases.
Live recall dashboard · children's product recalls · Pricing

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