Safety is at the forefront of our minds as parents, am I right? Stair gates are the number one product most parents invest in to keep their children safe and sound, but eight popular stair gates have failed Which? safety testing!

This is really important information for the mummies, daddies, grandparents, carers and other adults responsible for children who are part of our community – please read on to make sure that your stair gates aren’t part of this list. Action has been taken by some manufacturers of affected gates, but there may still be parents out there unaware of the issues.

Which?, the consumer product testing company reviewed 12 different stair gates to check that they adhered to EU safety standards. This involved using two different testing methods – an impact resistance test, and a fatigue test.

The impact resistance test replicated the impact of a child forcefully kicking or shoving a gate by using a 10kg weight. The fatigue test replicated a child shaking a gate over a period of time, using a mechanised arm to shake the gate 10,000 times.

Which gates failed the Which? testing?

Out of the 12 products tested, 8 failed. Here are the gates that failed;

The Mothercare Wooden Wall Fix

Cuggl Wooden Extending Gate

Lindam Sure Shut Orto

Dreambaby Chelsea Gate

BabyDan Perfect Close Gate

Dreambaby Liberty Gate

Cuggl Auto Close

BabyDan Premier True Pressure

How did these gates fail the testing?

Here’s the testing data direct from Which? – you can find the full report here.

Impact resistance test failures

Gate brand and model	Number of impacts before it failed
Cuggl Auto Close	2
Cuggl Wooden Extending	1
Mothercare Wooden Wall Fix	1

Fatigue test failures

Gate brand and model	Number of cycles before it failed
BabyDan Perfect Close	2,134
BabyDan Premier True Pressure	6,600
Dreambaby Chelsea	1,456
Dreambaby Liberty	2,727
Lindam Sure Shut Orto	417
Mothercare Wooden Wall Fix	6,738

Stair gate fixing method

Gate brand and model	Type of fixing method
BabyDan Perfect Close	Adhesive pads and screw option
BabyDan Premier True Pressure	No adhesive pads or screws – gate spindles are made from gripping rubber
Cuggl Auto Close*	Adhesive pads and screws*
Cuggl Wooden Extending	Screw fix
Dreambaby Chelsea	Adhesive pads and screw option
Dreambaby Liberty	Adhesive pads and screw option
Lindam Sure Shut Orto	Adhesive pads only
Mothercare Wooden Wall Fix	Screw fix

What action has been taken?

BabyDan have stated that their products were recently tested with ‘no remarks’ with regard to failures and all comply with the EN1930:2011 safety standards.

Dreambaby have stated that they don’t accept the Which? results, although instructions to their gates will now advise using both adhesive and screws.

Cuggl have stated that they’re investigating the Which? findings with their supplier.

Lindam have assured consumers that their products meet safety standards but will continue to monitor.

Mothercare removed their affected gate from sale in order to conduct further independent testing. They assure consumers that their product does meet the safety standards but have removed this from sale as a precaution.

You can read the full response from the affected retailers here.