Ikea, the low-cost furniture giant, is recalling 29 million of its popular Malm dressers after they caused the deaths of three children.
News of the recall was first reported yesterday (June 27), and full details will reportedly be announced today, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Customers who bought the dressers after 2002 will receive a full refund or store credit.
The trouble first started for Ikea in 2014, when two-year-old Curren Collas was crushed to death by a toppled Malm dresser. Since then, the popular dresser has been linked to the deaths of two other small children: Theodore McGee and Camden Ellis. The Malm has also failed industry stability tests.
Ikea has been under increasing pressure from consumer safety groups to conduct a full-blown recall. In July, 2015, the retailer launched a public safety campaign about tip-overs—the dangerous moment when a piece of furniture topples to the ground—and provided free anchoring kits to customers. But the repair kits they weren’t enough to satisfy US regulators.
Ikea and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) told ABC that tip-overs have also injured 36 children, all four years old and younger, since 1989.