After a plastic toy nail became lodged in the throat of an 11-month-old, Little Tikes has recalled 1.6 million toy workshops and trucks that have been on the market for 15 years. The injured South Carolina boy recovered after being hospitalized.

The offending nails are 3 1/4 inch long by 1 1/4 inch in diameter and come in both red and blue. The nails were part of four toy workshop sets and one truck with a tool set in the bed, including:

• Electronic Project Workshop (Sold March 1994 to Dec. 2003)
• Little HandiWorker Workhorse (Sold March 1999 to June 2009)
• Home Improvements 2-Sided Workshop (Sold Feb. 2001 to Jan. 2009)
• Swirlin' Sawdust Workshop (Sold April 2004 to Nov. 2008)
• Black Pickup Truck with Tools (Sold March 2000 to April 2009)

The toys were sold on various web sites such as www.littletikes.com and mass merchandise retailers nationwide, including Toys “R” Us, for between $25 and $100.

A similar recall of 255,000 workbenches was made by Playskool three years ago after two children choked to death when toy nails became lodged in their throats. In that case, the company offered consumers an incentive of a $50 gift certificate to return the nails to Playskool.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is advising parents of the Little Tikes toy sets to remove the toy nails. The company is offering "free replacement toy nails" but cautious parents may want to forgo that offer.

For more information, contact Little Tikes at (800) 791-2737 between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET Saturday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.littletikes.com.

Our take: This is a good time to remind parents to use a common cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper to screen out choking hazards. If the toy passes through, it's too small for baby to play with. Also, parents of children of mixed ages should take care to keep the toys of older children away from the younger ones.