Ikea issued the equivalent of a recall on Wednesday after two deaths caused by furniture tipping over in 2014 prompted the company to offer free repair kits for approximately 27 million sets of chests and drawers.
Although the free repair kit offering does not seem to constitute a traditional recall at first glance, it does fall under the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s (CPSC) guidelines for a recall, despite the fact that Ikea is not offering
refunds or replacements, according to The New York Times.
The CPSC announced on Wednesday that Ikea customers should not use any unsecured children’s chests and dressers that are taller than 23.5 inches, or adult chests and dressers that are taller than 29.5 inches unless customers have anchored the furniture to the wall or otherwise secured them, according to The New York Times. These repair kits issued by Ikea will include the wall anchoring hardware, replacement tip-over restraints, instructions for usage and implementation, and warning labels to be
attached to the furniture, according to CNN Money.
These warnings were issued after two toddlers were crushed when “Malm” Ikea drawer chests tipped over and pinned them to the ground, according to CNN Money. One 2-year-old from West Chester, Pennsylvania, and a 23-month-old child from Snohomish, Washington, were killed in 2014 as a result. Both chest drawers in question were not anchored to the wall at the time.
The CPSC noted that one child dies every two weeks from furniture or TVs tipping over and crushing them, whereas injuries occur every 24 minutes, according to CNN Money.
“At Ikea we are committed to helping raise the awareness of this serious home safety issue and to continue to provide consumers with the tools and knowledge they need to prevent these accidents,” said Patty Lobell, Ikea’s United States commercial manager, according to The New York Times.
Elliot F. Kaye, the chairman of the “Anchor It!” national public education campaign, told the newspaper, “It doesn’t take a lot to change the way that these pieces are constructed to make them much less likely to tip over. I think industry can do this.”