Death by Furniture: IKEA Recalls 29 mn Pieces After 3 Children Die

One death occurred 27 years ago while others were more recent and took place between 2002 and 2016.

With two IKEA dressers displayed with Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chairman Elliot Kaye. (Photo: AP)

IKEA is recalling 29 million chests and dressers that can tip over and trap children underneath. Six children have been killed and three dozen others injured in the past 27 years, and federal safety officials on Tuesday urged consumers to take immediate action.

The Swedish retailer announced the recall saying the furniture could pose “a tip-over and entrapment hazard that can result in death or injuries to children” if it was not properly anchored to a wall.

We are announcing this US recall today given the recent tragic death of a third child. It is clear that there are still unsecured products in customers’ homes, and we believe that taking further action is the right thing to do.

IKEA Statement

CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye said consumers “need to either get their anchor kit from IKEA for free and install it on their furniture, take it back to the store for a full refund or have IKEA come and pick it up from their homes for free.”

The recall, which only applies to customers in the US and Canada, is for several of IKEA chests and dressers. Ikea said the units under the recall are children’s chests and drawers taller than 23.5 inches and adult chests and dressers taller than 29.5 inches.

The recalled units were sold at IKEA stores “at various times through June 2016,” the company said.

All of the children killed were 3 years old or younger, the CPSC said. One child was killed about 27 years ago. The other deaths were more recent, between 2002 and 2016.

Customers who don’t want to keep the recalled furniture can ask for a refund. Ikea said it will give a full refund to owners of recalled chests and dressers made between 2002 and 2016.

IKEA USA president Lars Petersson said that the chests and dressers were sold with instructions saying that they had to be mounted to walls. Last year, the company offered free wall-mounting kits to owners after reports of children’s deaths.

Kaye said IKEA is now working with CPSC to bring safer designs to the markets so that furniture is more stable.