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IKEA's MALM units are dangerous enough to be recalled in the US. Why not here as well?

IKEA stores in the United States are about to get a whole lot busier with the news that the furniture retailer is recalling over 29 million chest of drawers and dressers following the deaths of six children who were crushed by the units falling over.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has said that the MALM units are considered dangerous when not secured to the wall and notes that the warning is applicable to specific children’s Malm chest of drawers over 60cm and adult Malm products over 29.5cm. The recall has come about after the Safety Commission received over 36 reports of children being injured by the units, including six fatalities.

The MALM units are not a new design for IKEA. They have been manufactured and stocked by the flat pack furniture company for over 26 years.

In Australia they are sold with a wall anchor kit which prevents the unit from toppling over. However, some customers have not been using the wall anchor either by choice, because they didn’t have the anchor kit (perhaps due to being given the furniture second hand) or because they’re in a rental property.

IKEA have offered their customers free wall mounting kits for some time after people became concerned about the safety of the product. Customers who believe they are affected by the recall have been offered several options which include refunds, partial refunds or replacement anchor kits.

At the current time the recall is not applicable to customers in Australia, despite the design of the MALM units being the same here as in the US.

A representative of IKEA told Mamamia that IKEA Australia was not undertaking a recall.  The spokesperson said that the chest of drawers in question are considered safe when attached to the wall, as directed in the assembly instructions.

“At IKEA, the safety of our products is our highest priority. IKEA provides anti tip restraints and instructions for wall anchoring with all chest of drawers. We spread awareness of the importance of securing furniture on our products and product instructions, on the website and in-store.” IKEA Australia explained.

“IKEA Australia offers customers who have misplaced the tip over restraints included with their chest of drawers additional free replacements which can be picked up in any store or can be ordered by contacting https://www.ordersafetykit.com/.”

So, despite the fact that the design of the units in Australia is exactly the same as the design of the units in the US, and despite deaths and injuries, the units are considered dangerous enough to be recalled by IKEA in the States, but not by IKEA in Australia.

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Top Comments

Kate 8 years ago

This is idiotic. The instructions for all Malm chests of drawers minus the small bedside drawer are very clear that they need to be anchored to the wall, and everything needed to do that is provided. If people don't do that, that's on them.

I have multiple Malm chests of drawers and I personally didn't bother securing them to the wall as my children are grown and they aren't in spots they'd be a hazard if their was a huge earthquake or something. If I had young children though, they'd be secured to the wall. Kids open drawers and hang off them. Any chest of drawers will topple or break under that strain, so they have to be secured to the wall.

This isn't an issue with Malm, it's an issue with all chests of drawers. IKEA actually does one better than 99% of furniture sellers and includes instructions and materials for securing them to the wall. But, its not a story when it's antique drawes falling, or local furniture store drawers falling. It's a common thing and Malm is by far the most popular set of drawers in the world, so of course there's going to be a lot of incidents with them. But the answer is simple, do what IKEA tells you to do and secure them to the wall. If you can't and you have children or pets, don't buy them.


Rush 8 years ago

I wonder if this is because the US is considered to be more litigious than Australia? Hopefully from now on, people will use the wall anchors.