ÄLMHULT, Sweden (WCMH) -The popular Swedish furniture retailer Ikea is recalling 29 million dressers and chests following their involvement in the deaths of six children and injuries of dozens more.
About 8 million of the recalled dressers are from the ‘Malm’ line of furniture, which Ikea says can tip and fall over if not properly anchored to the wall. Another 21 million children’s and adult chests and dressers have also been recalled. (Find out if your dressers were recalled on the IKEA recall page here.)
Ikea is offering customers who purchased dressers or chests from the ‘Malm’ line of furniture and the other recalled dressers a wall-anchoring kit or the option of a full or partial refund.
“Please immediately stop using any recalled chest or dresser that is not properly anchored to the wall and place in an area not accessible to children,” Ikea said on its website.
The furniture maker says, “The recalled chests and dressers are unstable if they are not properly anchored to the wall, posing a tip-over and entrapment hazard that can result in death or injuries to children.”
Last year, Ikea began offering free wall anchoring kits to customers who purchased the dressers after safety regulators called them unsafe if not mounted to a wall
Ikea and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission say two boys, both around two years old, were killed in 2014 after Malm chests that had not been secured to walls tipped over and fell on them. The agency and Ikea say they have received 14 reports of Malm chests tipping over, resulting in four injuries. Ikea is aware of three other deaths were reported from other models of chests and drawers that tipped over. Those deaths were described as happening since 1989.
In a statement to NBC News, Ikea said it issued the recall despite the anchor campaign, which resulted in the company sending out 300,000 kits.
“It is clear that there are still unsecured products in customers’ homes,” the statement says. “We believe that taking further action is the right thing to do.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.What others are clicking on:
