Ikea is offering repair kits for 27 million chests and dressers after they’ve been found to tip over, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday. The furniture has been linked to the deaths of two children who were crushed last year, which is why the repair kits are being offered to consumers.
The kits are designed to help those who’ve bought the products anchor them to a wall and potentially limit the risk of injuries. There are 7 million MALM chests and 20 million dressers involved in the program to receive the free kits.
Ikea will “continue to collaborate with the CPSC to find solutions for more stable furniture,” said Ikea spokeswoman Mona Liss. “We don’t know yet what those solutions will be but we are committed to working in collaboration to try to find better solutions.”
A six-year-old boy died in February 2014 after a dresser fell on him, while a two-year-old child died in June of last year under similar circumstances. There have reportedly been 14 incidents of chests or dressers from Ikea falling over, which have led to four injuries.
“The kit contains replacement tip-over restraints for use by any consumer who has not secured their IKEA chest or dresser to the wall. The kit also includes complete wall anchoring hardware, instructions and warning labels to be affixed to the furniture,” said the CPSC.
The chests and dressers range from $80 to $200 in price.
USA Today noted:
CPSC is recommending that consumers immediately stop using all IKEA children’s chests and dressers taller than 23 ½ inches and adult chests and dressers taller than 29 ½ inches, unless they are securely anchored to the wall. IKEA’s free wall anchoring kit should be used to secure MALM and other IKEA chests and dressers to the wall.
The newspaper reported that three other children have died since 1989 due to Ikea’s chests and dressers, not counting the two most recent deaths.
Every two weeks, a child reportedly dies, and one is injured every 24 minutes, according to USA Today, which cited CPSC data.