In August 2024, the grandparent of a 19-month-old boy reported to the CPSC that the child had fallen backward onto a hard tile floor, landing on his side, after the safety bar detached when he “leaned slightly backwards” while eating lunch at the kitchen counter. The grandparent added that the same thing had happened with another Cosco stool at their daughter’s house.
“Warning: The safety bar is totally useless!” reads a one-star negative review from August 2024. “My toddler doesn’t even need to touch it, even the lightest vibration from him shifting his weight between his feet causes the bar to knock out of place and fall down. It happened once when he was leaning back on it—as he should safely be able to do—and he fell backward and got hurt. . . . I won’t be surprised if it is soon recalled.”
“The safety bar does not latch securely at all. I was standing right beside my toddler supervising her, and she still fell off and broke her arm when the safety bar gave out,” wrote another customer named Katie in June 2025. “We purchased this because we wanted a foldable toddler tower to store when we weren’t using it, but I seriously regret not buying something sturdier.”
When CR reached out to Dorel to ask whether the company would consider providing refunds for unhappy customers rather than a repair kit, a representative responded that refunds should not be necessary because “the stepper is a functioning step stool without the use of the safety bar, which is optional.”
“Functioning step stool or not, parents bought this product because they thought the safety bar would help keep their children safe,” says Gabe Knight, senior safety analyst for CR. “It is deeply disappointing that Dorel isn’t offering its customers the option to receive a full refund as part of this recall.”
If you own one of these, you should detach the safety bar, stop letting children use it, and store it safely away from children until you are able to repair it. The company’s website has an online form to fill out to receive the free repair kit, which Cosco says will attach a locking mechanism to the safety bar to prevent the safety bar from detaching or breaking during use. The kit will also include an additional warning label to place onto the product about how to lock the safety bar. You should report any safety issues you have with this product to the CPSC at SaferProducts.gov.
“The so-called safety bar on the Cosco Kitchen Stepper stool gave parents a false sense of security, but injury reports from consumers make clear that Dorel never should have advertised this product as suitable for use by children,” says Knight. “Caretakers should always stay within arm’s length of a child when they’re using a stepping stool or learning tower. Falls and injuries can happen in the blink of an eye.”
Consumer Reports is currently testing the safety of several popular children’s learning towers, also known as toddler towers, for an upcoming project. Our results will be out later this summer.
