Ikea is recalling 29 million chests and dressers after six children were killed when the furniture toppled over and fell on them.
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Ikea also reported 41 incidents of tip-overs involving non-Malm furniture in the United States, resulting in deaths in 1989, 2002 and 2007.
Elliot Kaye (left), chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and CPSC employees watch as an IKEA Malm model chest of drawers falls on a 28-pound dummy during a demonstration Tuesday at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Ikea is issuing a massive recall prompted by concerns over child safety following the deaths of six children under the age of 4 and injuries to many more. The company stressed that the fix program helped to “communicate the importance of wall attachment, which resulted in the distribution of 300,000 kits to consumers who had not used their original hardware”. The other deaths were more recent, between 2002 and 2016. The next year, the company launched a program offering free wall-mounting kits to consumers and encouraging them to attach dressers to the wall. Ikea tells NBC News they are no longer selling their “Malm” series products.
But Petersson says even those dressers should, ideally, be anchored.
In Canada, where no fatal incidents have occurred, the authorities recalled dozens of models sold since 1993.
The recall comes after a third toddler’s death was linked to a MALM IKEA dresser tipping over.
“It is clear that there are still unsecured products in customers’ homes”, Ikea said in a statement.
KIMT News 3- In February a 22 month old from Apple Valley, Minnesota was killed by a fallen malm dresser, but this isn’t the first case an infant died because of this type of dresser.
Ikea has sold more than 147 million chests of drawers over the past 13 years, just over half of them – 78 million – of the Malm brand, the company said.
The announcement comes after an anchor campaign past year – and amid staggering statistics: every 24 minutes, a child is sent to the emergency room by a falling piece of furniture or a television, according the federal government’s watchdog agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
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A full list of affected furniture can be found on the Ikea-USA.com website.
