The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that IKEA and the Consumer Products Safety Commission are taking an unusual and perhaps unprecedented step, recalling tens of millions of top-heavy Malm dressers and chests. While IKEA offered repair kits and wall anchors to customers, the message clearly wasn’t getting out that have been sold in the United States.
The Inquirer says that according to a source in the federal government, tomorrow the CPSC and IKEA will announce a full recall of all Malm dressers sold in the United States. The dressers are considered a hazard, having been linked to injuries and even the deaths of three small children.
This might seem like a rare problem, but it turns out that toppling furniture injures tens of thousands of people in the United States every year. The Malm dresser and chest have been subject to a “repair” program where the retailer sent out wall anchors to customers, but clearly the message about the anchor program isn’t getting out to families, or this wouldn’t keep happening.
IKEA now includes anchoring the piece of furniture to the wall as the last step in its assembly instructions, but it’s apparently not catching on. Families may have missed the notice, may have ignored it because they don’t have small children in their homes right now, or may not have installed the anchors because they’re renters.
The Inquirer’s source reports that the company will offer a refund or store credit for all dressers –– more than 27 million sold in the United States as of 11 months ago –– and stop selling the model. It has already been removed from the website. If customers like their dressers and want to keep them, the retailer will send a repair crew out to ensure that the piece is anchored to the wall.
Exclusive: Ikea to halt sale of deadly dressers, offer refunds to millions [Inquirer]
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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