After 2 deaths, Ikea warns of risks with 27M dressers

NEW YORK (AP) — A year after Ikea chests tipped over and fatally injured two boys, the Swedish furniture giant and safety regulators say consumers should keep the furniture — 27 million chests and dressers — away from children unless the products are mounted to a wall.

Ikea is offering a free kit to help consumers affix the furniture to a wall. The kit will be available to people who bought chests and dressers above specific heights, including 7 million of Ikea’s Malm chests.

“They are unstable when built and used without a wall anchoring device,” said CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson.

Neither the company nor the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission described the move as a recall, but an offer to repair or replace a product is technically a recall. The CPSC said it could not find a record of any furniture recalls this size.

Ikea and the CPSC say two boys, both around two years old, were killed in 2014 after Malm chests that had not been secured to walls tipped over and fell on them. 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. Those deaths were described as happening since 1989.

They say consumers shouldn’t use Ikea children’s chests and drawers taller than 23

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