Mattress Flammability Standards: 16 CFR 1632 and 1633 Explained

Mattress flammability standards in the United States come from two Consumer Product Safety Commission regulations: 16 CFR Part 1632, which tests resistance to a smoldering cigarette, and 16 CFR Part 1633, which tests resistance to an open flame. Every mattress and mattress set manufactured, imported, or renovated for sale in the U.S. must pass both before it can legally reach a consumer. The rules bind domestic manufacturers, importers, and renovators alike, and violations carry civil penalties that can run into the millions.

The Cigarette Smoldering Test

Part 1632 is the older of the two rules and sets the smoldering baseline for every mattress and mattress pad in commerce. Technicians place lighted cigarettes on the mattress surface and measure how far the char spreads. At least 18 cigarettes are burned across different locations: nine directly on the bare mattress and nine on the mattress covered with sheets. Each location passes only if the char extends no more than two inches in any direction from the nearest point of the cigarette.¹

The test uses real cigarettes rather than a laboratory heat source because cigarettes left on bedding remain one of the most common residential fire ignition scenarios.

The Open-Flame Test

Part 1633 applies to all mattresses manufactured, imported, or renovated on or after July 1, 2007. Two T-shaped gas burners direct flames at the mattress set: one onto the top surface for 70 seconds, and a second onto the side of the mattress and foundation for 50 seconds. These exposure times simulate a fire starting from a nearby candle, match, or lighter.²

After the burners shut off, technicians monitor the mattress for a full 30 minutes. Two numbers decide whether the mattress passes:

Peak heat release rate cannot exceed 200 kilowatts at any point during the 30-minute test.
Total heat release cannot exceed 15 megajoules during the first 10 minutes.

A mattress that stays below both thresholds gives occupants significantly more time to wake up and get out before flashover.³

What Counts as a Mattress

The legal definition sweeps in more products than most people expect. A mattress is any resilient material or combination of materials enclosed by a fabric cover and intended or promoted for sleeping. Beyond traditional innerspring, foam, and hybrid mattresses, the rules cover:

Futon mattresses and flip chairs without permanent backs or arms.
Mattresses inside sleeper sofas, daybeds, trundle beds, and rollaway beds.
Air mattresses and waterbeds, if they contain upholstery material between the ticking and the core.
Absorbent pads, decubitus pads, and convoluted foam pads enclosed in ticking (smoldering test only).
All crib mattresses, including portable crib mattresses.

For futons and sofa beds, regulatory treatment depends on whether the mattress detaches. A separable mattress must meet Parts 1632 and 1633 on its own. A permanently attached mattress falls instead under the upholstered furniture flammability standard at 16 CFR Part 1640.⁴ Renovated and refurbished mattresses are treated identically to new products.¹

When a Design Change Triggers New Testing

Manufacturers don’t have to run a full test every time they produce a new size or change a fabric color. Under Part 1633, a mattress that differs from an already-qualified prototype can skip the full test if the only differences are changes in length and width (not depth), changes in ticking that isn’t specially treated for fire performance, or changes the manufacturer can objectively show won’t worsen flammability results.³

Anything else — a new foam density, a different fire barrier material, a redesigned quilting pattern — triggers a full prototype test with three specimens. The manufacturer must keep documentation showing why each “subordinate prototype” qualifies for the shortcut. If the paperwork doesn’t hold up under audit, every mattress sold under that prototype is technically noncompliant.

Labeling and Certification

Every mattress and foundation must carry a permanent, conspicuous, and legible English-language label. The label must be white with black text, at least 2¾ inches wide, and printed in 6-point font or larger for general information. The regulation gets specific about typeface and emphasis for different statements.⁵

The most important element for consumers is the foundation statement, which shows how the mattress was tested and how it is meant to be used:

If the mattress was tested for use without a foundation, the label must say so in 10-point Arial or Helvetica, uppercase, with “WITHOUT A FOUNDATION” bolded and “WITHOUT” italicized.
If the mattress was tested with a specific foundation, the label must identify that foundation in 12-point bold underlined type.
If the mattress passed testing both ways, the label includes both statements.

Each mattress also carries a unique prototype identification number linking it back to the original test results, so CPSC investigators can trace any mattress on a retail floor back to the test that qualified it.

Beyond the physical label, manufacturers and importers must issue written certificates of compliance. Adult mattresses require a General Certificate of Conformity based on testing or a reasonable testing program.⁶ Crib mattresses, classified as children’s products, require a Children’s Product Certificate backed by testing at a CPSC-accepted third-party laboratory. Test records, prototype documentation, quality assurance procedures, and production lot information must be kept for as long as mattresses based on that prototype are in production, plus three years after production ends, and produced to CPSC on request.⁷

Rules for Importers

A U.S. importer of a foreign-made mattress carries the same compliance responsibilities as a domestic manufacturer. All required records must be maintained in English at a U.S. location, and that U.S. address must appear on the label. A foreign factory’s test results don’t automatically satisfy the rule; the importer is independently responsible for the prototype documentation, confirmation testing for each foreign factory, quality assurance records, and photographic or video evidence of the prototype tests.⁷

Rules for Reselling Used Mattresses

Thrift stores and other resellers have their own set of obligations. Any mattress manufactured, imported, or renovated after July 1, 2007, must still bear its original flammability compliance label. Missing label, no sale: the reseller must destroy the mattress. Resellers must also check the CPSC recall database before accepting any mattress, because selling a recalled product is itself a federal violation.⁸

The CPSC recommends against reselling mattresses manufactured before July 1, 2007, because those products were never tested against open-flame ignition. When a mattress set was originally tested and sold as a matched pair, the mattress or foundation may be sold on its own only if that individual component still meets the standard by itself.

Fire Barriers and the Fiberglass Issue

To pass open-flame testing, most mattresses use a fire barrier layer between the outer cover and the comfort materials. Common barrier materials include fiberglass fabric, modacrylic fibers, treated rayon, wool, and various synthetic blends. The regulation sets performance results, not required materials, so the choice is left to the manufacturer.

Fiberglass barriers have generated a wave of consumer complaints. When a mattress uses a fiberglass inner liner and the outer cover is removed or damaged, often by a consumer unzipping it to wash it, microscopic glass fibers can escape into the room. Those fibers irritate skin, eyes, and lungs, and they are extremely difficult to clean from fabrics, air ducts, and other household surfaces. Some manufacturers include warnings not to remove the outer cover, but those warnings are easy to miss. If you want to avoid a fiberglass barrier, look for a product that discloses its barrier material; wool and certain plant-based fibers can meet the same requirements. Whatever the barrier, the simplest precaution is to never unzip or remove the inner cover.

The Medical Prescription Exemption

A narrow exemption exists for mattresses custom-built for a specific patient’s medical needs. The mattress must be made under a written prescription from a physician, chiropractor, or osteopath licensed in any U.S. state, and the prescription must identify the patient by name and tie the custom mattress to treatment of that person’s physical illness or injury.⁹

Exempt mattresses must carry a warning label at least 40 square inches in area with no side shorter than 5 inches, stating that the product may be vulnerable to cigarette ignition and has not been tested under the federal flammability standard. The word “WARNING” must be at least half an inch tall in contrasting letters. The same warning must appear on the invoice or sales papers accompanying the mattress from manufacturer to point of sale. Manufacturers must keep a copy of the prescription on file for three years from the date of manufacture.

Penalties for Noncompliance

The Consumer Product Safety Act gives the CPSC real enforcement authority. Knowing violations carry a civil penalty of up to $100,000 per violation, with each noncompliant mattress potentially counting as a separate offense. The maximum aggregate penalty for a related series of violations caps at $15,000,000. Both figures are subject to periodic inflation adjustments.¹⁰

Criminal prosecution is also possible. A knowing and willful violation can result in up to five years in federal prison, fines, or both. Individual corporate officers, directors, or agents who authorize or order the violation face personal criminal liability regardless of penalties imposed on the corporation, and courts can order forfeiture of assets connected to the violation.¹¹

In practice, enforcement more often takes the form of a recall. When a mattress fails the standard, the CPSC directs consumers to stop using it and contact the manufacturer for a remedy, which can range from a free fire-resistant cover to a full replacement. Selling a product subject to a CPSC recall, or to a voluntary recall undertaken in consultation with the Commission, is itself a federal violation.¹²

1
eCFR. 16 CFR Part 1632 – Standard for the Flammability of Mattresses and Mattress Pads
2
eCFR. 16 CFR 1633.7 – Mattress Test Procedure
3
eCFR. 16 CFR Part 1633 – Standard for the Flammability (Open Flame) of Mattress Sets
4
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Business Guidance FAQ
5
eCFR. 16 CFR 1633.12 – Labeling
6
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. General Certificate of Conformity
7
eCFR. 16 CFR 1633.11 – Records
8
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Resellers Guide to Selling Safer Products
9
eCFR. 16 CFR 1632.31 – Mattresses/Mattress Pads – Labeling, Recordkeeping, Guaranties and One of a Kind Exemption
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 2069 – Civil Penalties
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 2070 – Criminal Penalties
12
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Mattresses Recall Page