“Enough is enough,” the U.S. Consumer Product & Safety Commission chairman, Elliot Kaye, told ABC News. “These are inherently very dangerous and unstable products if children are around them.” And we have to agree! After all, IKEA and the CPSC have revealed that at least 36 children have been injured by IKEA chests and dressers, which are prone to tip over when they aren’t anchored to the wall. The deaths — all children under the age of 4 — date back to 1989 and are as recent as this February, the CPSC stated.
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In addition to offering a full refund to the owners of the 29 million affected dressers, including the poplar MALM and other styles, IKEA is also offering a free repair kit, which will include wall anchors to help secure the furniture to the wall. Unfortunately further details have not yet been revealed. Furniture manufactured between 2002 and 2016 will entitle customers to a FULL refund, while consumers can receive a partial store credit for items manufactured before 2002.
Parents, listen to this! IKEA recalls 29 million dressers after 3 children killedhttps://t.co/xpwSiCSvfV
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) June 28, 2016
Upon request, IKEA will also send a crew to install the wall anchors for customers who don’t want to do it themselves. But in the meantime, it’s safest to store affected dressers in areas that children do not have access to. The mother of Curren, Jackie Collas, learned that the hard way when she found her baby boy pinned underneath his dresser back in February 2014.
“The dresser was completely flipped over. Then I saw that his body was trapped underneath the dresser,” Jackie wrote on social media of the moment she found her son. “At that point I started screaming…I didn’t know to anchor my furniture and, in my mind, I feel that we really shouldn’t have to,” Jackie continued. “Get rid of it, it’s dangerous, it’s a really dangerous product.”
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The mother of Theodore McGee, had a similar, horrifying experience when she found her son beneath a six-drawer dresser. The dressers “don’t look dangerous,”Alan Feldman, the attorney who represents the McGees and other families in lawsuits against IKEA, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “…But when you load them up with clothing and you allow them to be in a bedroom with a small child … it’s Russian roulette.”
But the three young boys’ deaths, which occurred between 2014 and 2016, were not the only incidents involving IKEA’s MALM dresser tipping over. IKEA admitted that it knew of 14 other cases, four of which resulted in injury. And different brands of IKEA chests have also been implicated in three other deaths dating as far back as 1989, according to the Associated Press. The important takeaway? Secure your furniture and make sure to use wall anchors.
Tell us, HollywoodLifers — are you shocked by what happened to these toddlers? Leave your condolences and thoughts below.