Several safety groups have urged the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall an Ikea bedroom dresser that has been associated with three child deaths since last year.

Consumers Union, an advocacy arm of Consumer Reports, along with the National Center for Health Research, the Consumer Federation of America and Kids In Danger have written a joint letter asking for action.

“To learn that a tipping Ikea Malm dresser killed yet another child, when the company and the CPSC chose not to do a recall after the first two child deaths, is beyond heartbreaking – it is unacceptable,” the groups said in an April 26 letter to CPSC Chairman Elliot F. Kaye. “We are writing to ask the CPSC to do what is needed to prevent further deaths.”

In February, 22-month-old Ted McGee, of Minnesota, died after a chest in Ikea’s Malm line tipped over on him.

A piece from the Malm line was also involved in two separate deaths of children, one in Pennsylvania and one in Washington, that occurred in February and May 2015.

Last July, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Ikea North America announced a repair program that offered free wall anchoring kits for Ikea Malm chests and dressers. The warning applied to the Malm three- and four-drawer chests and two styles of Malm six-drawer chests as well as other unspecified chests and dressers.

Without these anchors, the CPSC said, the pieces can pose a tip-over hazard.

In a statement, Ikea said that it has communicated to consumers the importance of the wall attachment through a safety campaign called Secure It!

Ikea said that it has sent e-mails to millions of customers and placed advertisements in parent magazines and posted notices on its website and on Facebook and Twitter about the importance of the wall attachment.

The company also plans to expand the campaign in order to reach more people and provided an additional 300,000 free wall attachment kits to U.S. consumers through April 3. These are in addition to the restraints it provides at the time of purchase.

But the letter sent to the CPSC said that the safety efforts fell short of a recall and that there was “no mention of the fact that the Ikea dresser in question and possibly others did not meet the voluntary standard, ASTM F2057-14. … This standard requires each drawer to be able to withstand a 50-pound weight without allowing the dresser to tip. At less than 2 years old, it is unlikely the child in the most recent death weighed more than 50 pounds. … It does seem strange for a company with a product that does not meet accepted industry standards to be allowed to promote only consumer action with anchoring devices rather than formally recalling non-compliant products.”

“We urge the CPSC to take further action and deem this compliance action a recall,” the letter said, adding that they are recommending stopping “the sale of the type of furniture involved in the deaths that does not meet the ASTM standard, as well as refunds for consumers that want them.”

In a response to the groups reported by Consumer Reports, Kaye said that he agreed more needs to be done quickly to prevent children from further tip-over hazards. However, citing federal laws that limit the information the agency can disclose, he stopped short of commenting on any specific case being considered.

When asked last week by Kids Today whether CPSC planned to do a recall, a CPSC official also declined to comment on any specific recalls being considered before they are officially announced.

(Source: Furniture Today  Author: Thomas Russell)