Earlier this month, Lane Home Furnishings in Chicago launched the national child and public awareness campaign to locate their older model cedar chests that lock automatically and can be a threat to children.

Lane is determined to locate up to 6.5 million of the 12 million automatic-locking cedar chests that were produced between 1912 and 1987.

Many of the chests are kept in basements, recreation rooms, garages, sheds and other inviting places for young children to play. The older model chests are dangerous to children who may climb into the chest and become trapped inside.

Seven incidents have occurred over the past 25 years, where a total of 12 children have suffocated after being trapped inside of one of the automatic-locking cedar chests.

While these chests are of high quality and often are valued family heirlooms, Lane is asking that owners of the chests simply replace the lock with one that is manually latched from the outside.

“It is a simple process that takes only about eight minutes and requires the unscrewing and screwing back in of four screws,” said Morgan Files, a Lane executive.

Lane’s goal is to send 6.5 million lock replacements around the country. That means roughly one out of every 17 U.S. households own a pre-1987 Lane manufactured cedar chest. More than 280,000 of these automatic-locking chests can be found in the state of Illinois, and 176,000 in the Chicago metro area.

The Lane national campaign lock replacement program began in 1996 and its success has initiated local efforts for lock replacements.

“Within the past year, 500,000 consumers have inquired about the chest locks, leading to 15,000 lock replacements,” Files said.

Files is hoping the cedar chest campaign will improve not only the quality of Lane manufactured products, but also will urge other manufacturers to correct products that cause a safety hazard to children.

Many students may take their family chest with them when they leave for college, resulting in the existence of many unsafe chests in dormitories or apartments. In order to support this campaign, Lane says students should check their chest’s serial number and check the company’s Web site, or use the hotline to receive a free lock replacement.

Owners can call 888-856-8758, or contact the campaign Web site, www.newlock.net, in order to receive a replacement lock, free of charge.