6 Deaths Linked to Unstable Ikea Dressers and Chests

The parents of 2-year-old Theodore “Ted” McGee thought their son was taking a nap, but when they peeked into his room they were horrified to find their child pinned underneath a six-drawer Ikea dresser.

The Apple Valley, Minn., family lost their son that day, but they later found out that this same thing had happened to other toddlers in previous years.

Just last year, a 1-year-old toddler was killed in June 2015 after being struck by a three-drawer dresser that tipped over. In fact, over the past 14 years, a total of six children all under the age of 3 years old have been killed and 36 others were injured in accidents involving unstable Ikea dressers and chests.

The Swedish furniture retailer had issued a safety notice and recall of 27 million of the unstable dresser and chest units in 2014, but now on the heels of recent fatal accidents the company has expanded the recall to 29 million units.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission the furniture covered by the recall applies only to customers in the United States and Canada. Specifically, the furniture recalled is children’s dressers and chests taller than 23.5 inches and adult chests above 29.5 inches. These items were intended to be attached to a wall and were sold with instructions, but many were not secured by consumers resulting in the above accidents.

Ikea is now offering free kits to attach the units to walls, but if consumers do not wish to keep the furniture items they will receive a full refund for units made prior to 2002 or store credit for half the original price on older items.

“People who buy Ikea furniture expect the products to be safe, but that is not the case with certain dressers and chests sold by this company,” said Attorney James Johnson. “It’s not acceptable to sell inferior products such as this that are hazardous to our most vulnerable members of society.”

If you have lost a loved one or suffered an injury due to a defective product such as this one, Johnson Attorneys Group would like to help you by offering a free legal consultation at 800-235-6801.