Rumours broke yesterday that IKEA was going to recall millions of dressers today. And they were right. But it’s not just the Malm, as we originally heard. IKEA is recalling 29 million dressers of all varieties in partnership with the US Product Safety Commission after the death of a 22-month-old child who was crushed by a Malm dresser earlier this year. However, they aren’t being recalled in Australia.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Chairman Elliot Kaye watches a demonstration of a child dummy being crushed at a news conference Tuesday (Associated Press)
Three American children have died from IKEA dressers in the past two years. When the dressers aren’t properly bolted to the wall they can easily tip over when the drawers are open. IKEA has even taken the dramatic step of discontinuing some types of Malm dressers entirely, wiping them from the company’s website yesterday.
“If you have or think you have one of these products, act immediately,” the Chairperson of the US Product Safety Commission said today in a statement. “It is simply too dangerous to have the recalled furniture in your home unanchored, especially if you have young children.”
The six models of Malm dressers that are being recalled are below.
“Last year, we launched a repair kit program to communicate the importance of wall attachment, which resulted in the distribution of 300,000 kits to consumers who had not used their original hardware,” an IKEA spokesperson told me over email late last night.
“Since then, we have been in close contact with the CPSC to evaluate the success of the repair program and the impact it is having on consumers’ actions,” the spokesperson said. “We are announcing this 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.”
However, the dressers are not being recalled in Australia. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that an IKEA Australia spokesperson stated that the recall “is based on the local [American] standard, which is a voluntary standard for the sale of chests of drawers in North America.” The spokesman further stated that IKEA Australia has spread awareness of the importance of anchoring furniture.
The list of other dressers affected by this recall is extensive, including everything from the ALESUND four-drawer model to the VOLLEN three-door model. You can see the complete list of non-Malm dressers that have been recalled here.
IKEA is offering US consumers who have purchased one of their recalled dressers two options: A free wall-anchoring repair kit or a refund.