Guide · updated 13 November 2026

Mattress recalls: seven notices, 51,353 units, and the label that has to match the test

The short answer: in the 90 days to 10 November 2026 the CPSC public recall feed carried 141 recalls covering about 29.1 million units. Seven were mattresses — 51,353 units, 5.0% of the notices and only 0.18% of the units. Every one of the seven uses the same phrase: the product violates the mandatory flammability standard for mattresses. That phrase covers two separate rules, 16 CFR part 1632 (cigarette ignition) and 16 CFR part 1633 (open flame), and part 1633 is the one that decides whether an imported mattress can be sold at all: three specimens tested per prototype, a peak heat release limit of 200 kW, 15 MJ total in the first ten minutes, a prototype number printed on the label, and the test records kept in English, at a US address.

What the 90 days of data show

Counted from the CPSC public recall feed for notices published 13 August to 5 November 2026, pulled 10 November 2026 from the ShelfWatch recall dashboard (snapshot timestamp 2026-11-10T01:07Z). Seven notices mention a mattress; together they are 51,353 units.

One notice is 94% of the volume. ZCK01's 48,405 units are 94.3% of the cluster; the median notice is 774 units. Read the total and you would think mattresses are a big-importer problem. Read the rows and you see the opposite: six of the seven are in the low hundreds, which is what a container-load-and-list business looks like — one purchase order, one marketplace listing, no test file.

The hazard language is identical, word for word. All seven say the mattresses "violate the mandatory flammability standard for mattresses, posing a risk of serious injury or death from fire". None of them names the part number, and none of them says whether the failure was the open-flame test or the cigarette test. That is normal for a CPSC headline — the standard lands in the remedy and the press release detail, not the title — but it means the notice tells you a test failed, not which one. If you import mattresses, assume it was the expensive test until you have seen the lab report.

The two rules behind that one sentence

16 CFR part 1632 is the older rule — Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress Pads (FF 4-72, amended). It is the cigarette-ignition test, and it is the one that also covers mattress pads, which part 1633 does not. Section 1632.31 carries the labeling and recordkeeping duties for both products.

16 CFR part 1633 is the open-flame rule, published as a final rule at 71 FR 13472 on 15 March 2006 and effective 1 July 2007. It applies to mattress sets — a mattress sold with a foundation is tested with that foundation. Four provisions do all the work, and they are worth reading before your next purchase order.

§ 1633.3(b) — the numbers. Tested to the procedure in § 1633.7, a specimen must satisfy both criteria: the peak rate of heat release must not exceed 200 kW at any time within the 30-minute test, and the total heat release must not exceed 15 MJ for the first 10 minutes. The ignition source is a pair of propane burners, imposed on the top and the sides at different fluxes for different times, and heat release is measured by oxygen-consumption calorimetry. If the fire grows large enough that the operator has to suppress it, the test is recorded as a failure.

§ 1633.4(a) — three specimens. Three specimens of each prototype must be tested and pass before any mattress set based on that prototype is sold or introduced into commerce. If any single specimen fails, the prototype is not qualified. § 1633.4(c) adds that tests must be run on specimens no smaller than a twin.

§ 1633.4(b) — what you may change without retesting. A set that differs from a qualified prototype only in length and width (not depth), in ticking (unless the qualified prototype's ticking was itself treated or specially composed to pass), or in any component or method of assembly where the manufacturer "can demonstrate on an objectively reasonable basis" that the difference will not push the set over the criteria, may be sold without a new test. Everything else needs testing.

§ 1633.6(c) — stop, don't ship. If a quality-assurance test shows a production lot failing, or the manufacturer gets evidence that a component could hurt performance, it must cease production and distribution until corrective action is taken. That obligation sits on the manufacturer, and for an import programme the manufacturer is often the factory you do not control.

Why the prototype number ends up on the law label

§ 1633.12(a) lists what the label must carry, and no more: manufacturer name — and for imported sets, both the foreign manufacturer and the importer; the complete physical address of the foreign manufacturer including country, plus the physical address of the importer or the US location where records are kept; month and year of manufacture; model identification; the prototype identification number; a certification in one of three exact forms; and a statement of whether the set is meant to be sold with a foundation.

The certification wording is not a summary, it is fixed text. A mattress meant to be sold without a foundation must say:

"This mattress meets the requirements of 16 CFR part 1633 (federal flammability (open flame) standard for mattresses) when used without a foundation"

with a companion line, "THIS MATTRESS IS INTENDED TO BE USED WITHOUT A FOUNDATION." A set sold with a foundation must name the foundation — "when used with foundation <ID>" — because the foundation is part of what was tested. This is the single most mechanical failure mode in the category: a mattress tested as a set, shipped from the factory as a mattress-in-a-box, listed on a marketplace without a foundation, and labelled for the combination that was never tested. The information on the label is what a customs officer, a marketplace compliance queue and a CPSC investigator all read first, and it has to agree with the test file behind it.

The records have to be in the United States

§ 1633.11(a) requires every manufacturer, and any other person initially introducing the sets into commerce, to keep the test and manufacturing records in English at a location in the United States. For a set produced outside the US, § 1633.11(f)(2) requires a copy of all those records at a US location, and that location is identified on the mattress label. Retention under § 1633.11(e): for as long as sets based on the prototype are in production, and three years after that.

What counts as a record is specific. § 1633.11(a)(1) wants test results and details for every test, including failures: test facility name and full address, room type and conditions, prototype or production ID, peak heat release rate, total heat release in the first ten minutes, a graph of both over time, the name and signature of the person who ran the test, and a certification by the person overseeing it. § 1633.11(a)(2) wants video, or at least eight photographs — one before the test, one within 45 seconds of the start, and six at five-minute intervals from 5 to 30 minutes — with the prototype or lot number, date, time and facility visible in each. § 1633.11(b) adds the material and component specifications for the prototype, with the name and full address of each material supplier, plus the flame-retardant treatments and their application details.

One clause is easy to miss on an import programme. § 1633.11(c)(4): where the importer relies on prototype pooling, the importer is responsible for keeping the confirmation-test records for each foreign factory whose sets it imports. Not the factory. The importer.

Children's mattresses are a different certificate

A mattress for a child is a children's product, so the certificate is a CPC based on testing at a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory, not the general certificate of conformity an adult mattress needs under 16 CFR part 1110. The Commission's rule at 75 FR 72944 (29 November 2010) deals specifically with the terms on which it accepts children's-product certifications for mattresses, mattress pads and mattress sets tested to parts 1632 and 1633. If the SKU is a crib mattress or a toddler mattress, the lab report and the CPC are separate artefacts from the prototype test file — the CPC checklist covers who signs what, and CPSC eFiling covers how certificate data now travels with the entry.

Six things to ask before the next purchase order

1. The prototype test report, not a certificate of compliance. Ask for the three-specimen report for the prototype ID that will be printed on your label, with the 200 kW peak and the 10-minute total in it. A one-page "passed 16 CFR 1633" letter is not a test report.
2. Is the ticking on my order the ticking that was tested? § 1633.4(b)(2) allows a ticking change only if the qualified prototype's ticking was not itself treated or specially composed for the test. A cheaper cover is the most common silent substitution in this category.
3. Am I buying a set or a mattress? If the factory tested mattress plus foundation and you intend to sell the mattress alone, the label and the test file disagree. Fix it before production, not after import.
4. Depth counts. Length and width may vary from the prototype; depth may not. A thicker core is a new prototype.
5. Who holds the records, and where? § 1633.11(f)(2) wants a copy at a US location, in English — and for pooling, § 1633.11(c)(4) puts that duty on you.
6. Mattress pads are a separate question. Part 1632 covers pads; part 1633 does not. A topper sold alongside the mattress is not automatically covered by the mattress file.

If your SKU appears in a notice

Stop selling on the day you read it, read the official notice for the remedy and the date codes in scope, and keep evidence of customer contact. Then ask the factory two questions: what changed between the tested prototype and the units shipped, and which other SKUs use the same core and the same ticking. Six of the seven notices above are small importers selling generically named foam mattresses — the same supply base shows up across brands. If you learn about a defect before CPSC publishes, a different clock applies: section 15(b) gives you 24 hours.

Sources

16 CFR part 1633, §§ 1633.1, 1633.3(b), 1633.4, 1633.6(c), 1633.11, 1633.12, 1633.13 (eCFR, title 16, current as of 1 November 2026) · Final Rule, Standard for the Flammability (Open Flame) of Mattress Sets, 71 FR 13472 (15 March 2006), effective 1 July 2007 · 16 CFR part 1632, Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress Pads (FF 4-72, amended) · 75 FR 72944 (29 November 2010), third-party testing for mattresses, mattress pads and mattress sets · Recall counts and unit figures: CPSC public recall feed via /api/recalls?days=90, snapshot 10 November 2026. Unit counts are CPSC's own "About N" figures, not independent estimates.

Related

Dresser tip-over recalls — the other category where a mandatory standard, not a design review, decides whether the SKU ships.
Adult portable bed rail recalls — four notices and 38,213 units in 90 days, and a standard that adopts ASTM F3186-17 with twenty modifications.
Children's Product Certificate (CPC) checklist — who signs it and what the importer files at entry.
CPSC eFiling — certificate data now travels with the entry.
Section 15(b): the 24-hour duty to report a defect — what starts the clock.
Live recall dashboard · home electrical recalls · Pricing

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