Ikea says it has always sold its chests of drawers with anchors and tethers to secure the furniture pieces to the wall, and that its dressers are safe when secured. The company sent out over 300,000 free anchor kits to customers.
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Chests and dressers manufactured between January 2002 and June 2016 qualify for a full refund. Consumers can install the kit themselves or IKEA will provide a one-time, free in-home installation service, upon request.
People with untethered dressers are advised to move them into storage “where they can not be accessed by children” until they get the anchoring kit.
The Swedish brand said it had alerted British customers to the dangers and advised them to collect a special bracket that will attach the furniture to the wall after reports of the deaths emerged a year ago. Dresser prices range between $70 and $200, and the company is offering full refunds on the furniture (though they might offer store credit for older models).
A child dies every two weeks and a child is injured every 24 minutes in the US from furniture or TVs tipping over, according to CPSC data.
But while the recall spotlights more than nine million Malm products, one of the store’s most popular furniture lines, even IKEA shoppers who don’t own a Malm dresser may want to pay attention. The agency and Ikea say they have received 14 reports of Malm chests tipping over, resulting in four injuries.
In a statement, the Swedish retail giant said: “We are announcing this recall… given the recent tragic death of a third child”. Three other children have been killed by other-style IKEA chests.
IKEA has announced a recall for its Malm chests and dressers. In each case, the inherently unstable furniture tipped over and crushed the toddlers, pinning them beneath its weight.
– With files from The Associated Press.
Ikea’s wall anchor campaign last July technically fit the definition of a recall.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chairman Elliot Kaye.
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Kudos to IKEA for getting the information out there, and for a voluntary recall that is bad PR for them, but will hopefully spread awareness about just how unsafe it is to have unsecured furniture and appliances around kids.
