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After 2 Kids Killed, Ikea Warns About Dressers

They can tip unless they're secured to the wall
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 22, 2015 4:26 PM CDT
After 2 Kids Killed, Ikea Warns About Dressers
This product image provided by Ikea shows a Malm 6-drawer dresser.   (Ikea via AP)

After Ikea chests tipped over and fatally injured two boys, safety regulators say consumers should stop using Ikea's dressers and chests for children unless the products are mounted to a wall. The Swedish furniture giant is offering a free kit to help consumers do that. The kit will be available to 27 million consumers who bought chests and dressers above specific heights, including 7 million of Ikea's Malm chests. Ikea and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission say two boys, both around 2 years old, were killed in 2014 after Malm chests that had not been secured to walls tipped and fell on them. They say consumers shouldn't use Ikea children's chests and drawers taller than 23½ inches and adult chests and drawers taller than 29½ inches unless they are anchored.

It's considered a recall, but instead of returning the products, customers are asked to get an anchoring kit, notes USA Today. 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, going back to 1989. A boy in West Chester, Pennsylvania, was fatally pinned against his bed in February 2014 after a Malm 6-drawer chest fell on him, and a boy from Snohomish, Washington, died after being trapped beneath a three-drawer Malm chest when it tipped over. (More Ikea stories.)

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