After the death of an eight child, Ikea relaunched a recall of 29 million of its controversial chests and drawers.
The chests and drawers have been hugely criticized for their propensity to easily tip over if not properly anchored to a wall, leading to eight deaths of children when the pieces of furniture toppled on the poor and innocent kids.
Ikea CEO Lars Petersson said his company wants to increase awareness of the recall campaign for a number of types of chests and drawers.
For one, the death of a California toddler, who was found trapped underneath an Ikea Main dresser in May has raised wide concerns about whether the company has effectively spread the word about the recall. The recall was first announced in June 2016. Ikea, a Swedish retailer, and the federal safety regulators are requesting customers to take immediate action to secure the dressers or return them.
Petersson is claiming that Ikea has had an “extensive communication” campaign through social media, its website and television and print ads. He said the company emailed 13 million people about the recall two months ago.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says that at least eight children under the age of three have been killed when an Ikea dresser fell on them. The first death was registered 28 years ago and the others happened after 2002.
The latest victim was 2-year-old Jozef Dudek of Buena Park, California. The toddler had been put down only for a nap but when his father came back shortly to check on the child, he was surprised to find him under the dresser.
One of the lawyers representing the Dudek family, Alan Fieldman, said that Ikea’s recall has been “poorly publicized” and “ineffective in getting these defective and unstable dressers out of children’s bedrooms.”’
Fieldman along with other lawyers on their team also represented the families of three other toddlers who also died when Ikea dressers fell on them. Ikea reached a $50 million settlement with the families last December.
Ikea’s recall applies only to customers in the U.S. and Canada, and specifically for children’s chests and drawers taller than 23.5 inches and adult chests and dressers taller than 29.5 inches. The company said customers should contact them if they want a free wall-mounting kit and if they want to avail the services of free crews to do the work for them.
Ikea is offering full refunds, too, to anyone who no longer wants the furniture. The recall is also for all Ikea chest and dressers that do not comply with U.S. voluntary industry standards. An estimated 8 million Malm chest and dressers were sold from 2002 through June 2016. The company CEO said Ikea has stopped selling products that do not adhere to U.S. voluntary standards.
Anyone interested in more information on the recall may call 1-888-966-4532.
Source:
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2017/11/21/ikea-relaunches-dresser-recall/
