Ikea recalls Malm dresser for second time

Ikea has announced that it’s once again recalling its Malm line of dressers, which has a history of injuring, sometimes fatally, young children when a pulled-out top drawer causes the dresser to topple over when not properly anchored to the wall.

This latest recall comes after the recent death of Jozef Dudek, 2, of California, who became the eighth child to die under a fallen Malm dresser, after he was put down for a nap.

The first recall, announced in June 2016, went out to 29 million dressers (and included a full refund or store credit); that number has since been revised down to 17.3 million. In December 2016, the company reached a $50 million settlement with three of the families of children crushed by the dressers.

“The recalled chests and dressers are unstable if they are not properly anchored to the wall, posing serious tip-over and entrapment hazards that can result in injuries or death to children,” Ikea said in a statement. “Consumers should immediately stop using any recalled chest or dresser that is not properly anchored to the wall and place it in an area that children cannot access.”

Ikea has received 186 reports of incidents involving the MALM dressers to date, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, with 91 incidents resulting in injury to a child. An additional 113 reports have involved other lines of dressers, 53 of which resulted in injury. The first death involving other Ikea chests and dressers occurred in 1989.

Ikea claims it has done extensive outreach to consumers regarding the recall, including emailing some 13 million customers. But that may not be enough.

William Wallace of Consumers Union, the policy and action division of Consumer Reports, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that Ikea should promote the dangers posed by its dressers with the same vigor it put “into marketing the product in the first place.”

If you own or think you may own one of these dressers, contact Ikea immediately for a refund or a kit to attach the dresser to your wall to prevent it from tipping over. Head here to find out if your model has been recalled.