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Mattresses and Mattress Pads Flammability

Final Rule: 1972

Amendment to Final Rule: Sept. 23, 2011

Amendment Effective Date: Sept. 23, 2012

The Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress Pads was initially issued by the U.S. Department of Commerce in 1972 under the authority of the Flammable Fabrics Act. When the Consumer Product Safety Act created the Consumer Product Safety Commission, it transferred to the Commission the authority to issue flammability standards under the FFA.

The standard sets forth a test to determine the ignition resistance of a mattress or mattress pad when exposed to a lighted cigarette. Lighted cigarettes are placed at specified locations on the surface of a mattress (or mattress pad). The Standard establishes pass/fail criteria for the tests. Until the amendment that passed in 2011, the standard specified the ignition source for these tests by its physical properties. These properties were originally selected to represent an unfiltered Pall Mall cigarette, which was identified as the most severe smoldering ignition source.


CPSC amended the standard for the flammability of mattresses and mattress pads to revise the ignition source specification in that standard. The ignition source cigarette specified for use in the mattress standard's performance tests is no longer produced. The Commission is requiring a standard reference material cigarette, which was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, as the ignition source for testing to the mattress standard.

Final Rule: Standard for Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress Pads

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