After death of children, IKEA warns consumers not to use chests and dressers

IKEA is currently being sued by the grieving mother of a little boy who died in February 2014 after a piece of furniture made by the manufacturer tipped over and fell on him. The suit claims that IKEA was aware of the tip-over risk but failed to provide the hardware necessary to prevent accidents.

In response, the company, along with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, has warned that people “should 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.”

The CPSC also stated that another child died in June 2014 when an IKEA-made chest tipped over, trapping the 23-month-old beneath.

IKEA is now offering free wall-anchor kits that can be attached to 27 million pieces of furniture. However, the warning specifically relates to IKEA’s Malm chests with three, four and six drawers. Roughly 7 million of those chests are covered by the so-called “repair program.”

Defective and dangerous furniture designs are unfortunately not uncommon. According to the CPSC, every 24 minutes a child is injured in the U.S. as a result of furniture or a television tipping over. Every two weeks a child dies under the same circumstances.

Manufacturers have a duty to ensure that their products are not unreasonably dangerous to consumers. Sadly, innocent people suffer tremendous loss when companies fail to meet that obligation. If you have questions about manufacturer negligence, breach of warranty and the kinds of defects that can occur, please see DeFrancisco & Falgiatano Personal Injury Lawyers’ overview of product liability.