Don’t the instructions say to attach the dressers to the wall? And isn’t the hardware to attach included?
Yes and yes.
Yes, my kids have several pieces of Ikea furniture and it all says to attach it to the wall and provides the means to do so.
A lot of people who buy ikea furniture are likely in rental housing. Depending on how much of a jerk the landlord is, they risk losing their deposits if they attach something seriously to the wall. That would be a tough call.
Meanwhile, still no recall on hot dogs or hard candy, even though both are responsible for way more ER visits every year. I applaud Ikea for this, but I also think it’s mostly a PR thing and that not a lot of people will take them up on the recall. (Full disclosure: we had some other brand of kill-your-toddler flatback bureau, and we still have plenty of bookcases, some of them not firmly anchored.)
Headlines seem to love to blame IKEA, which is a company that actively tries to prevent these tragedies and educate consumers. But this a huge problem for all makers of furniture – especially when tv’s are set atop dressers. http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Safety-Education/Safety-Education-Centers/Tipover-Information-Center/
Thankfully IKEA will still offer their triple locking refrigerator, in 5 different colors!! YouTube was made for putting one of these babies out on the curb with a Snickers bar placed far in the back…
What are these “instructions” you speak of, strange one?
That’s a good point. I’d like to add that while anchoring hardware is always included, anchoring screws are not, because the variation in wall situations can mean wood screws or molly bolts or who knows what might be safe and appropriate - my guess is it’s a liability and cost issue for Ikea. You can purchase those separately but I suspect few do.
In my experience, and I’ve bought a bit of Ikea furniture including a recalled dresser as well as bookshelves, is that you can’t buy or put together these things without seeing large, graphical illustrations and demands that you fix it to the wall. And good mechanisms for doing so, I might add.
It’s a far cry from other furniture I’ve purchased elsewhere. I had to argue with the range installer about putting in the (included) anti-tip bracket - digging through the manual to find the somewhat ambiguous and arcane instructions myself. Apparently no one ever had wanted one. But my husband is only with us today because of a corner of a tool rack that caught the stove he climbed onto as a toddler - it was in the garage during a remodel, with one of his toys left on top. So I’m a believer.
Suing Ikea over this rather than, I dunno, Home Depot, is like Bernie threatening to disrupt the Democratic Party instead of the GOP.
So true. I had a turkey shift in a range once, to great calamity. Still, all the neighbor kids thought a 3 legged dog was fascinating.
Keep in mind that Trump is a landlord.
ETA: Toothpaste. 
God, I hope that’s not a true story…
No, it’s true, but it worked out fine. Squirrels, seeing that Mister was disabled, dismissed him as harmless. However, through the amazing powers of compensation and special exercise classes we enrolled him in, would catch them unawares and chow down like you wouldn’t believe!! The resulting lack of buried nuts in our yard also took care of the mole problem.
Heh. Can I borrow him?
If your situation doesn’t allow for safe attaching of a piece of furniture, do not use that piece of furniture; or do not have children around.
No furniture maker/seller can do that for you.
But I do believe most rental homes do allow for this kind of attachment. You have to patch it up when you leave, though, or pay for the owner to have it patched.
Stevie, did you have your breakfast today?
A recall for something that’s happened with 33/29000000 x 100 = 0.00011 percent of the units sold.
Holy shit almost nothing human made is safer than that and they came with a means to prevent it.
Seem like more a parent issue, just saying.
I wouldn’t be so quick to blame parents here. Sometimes it’s more a matter of knowledge and having the right tools and materials. Once a piece of furniture is in place, it’s not likely to get fixed or moved, especially if it takes both time and money to do so.
Still, these accidents are rare and frankly there is so much fear-mongering and ass-covering that it really does take a lot of effort to sort out what is exceedingly important from what is less so. I think a lot gets tuned out.
A unit come with parts and instructions telling you to attach it to the wall or if you can’t get help and the parent or someone else responsible for the kid doesn’t do it and I can’t blame them especially if it required knowledge and money? Sorry your’e right, Ikea should have provided someone to watch over their kids, those bastards!
It says it on the web page (although I can’t say when that got put on) it has link if you can’t assemble
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20245370/
and it says it in the downloadable instructions
Even has warning sticker shown on last page
http://cdn-04.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/incoming/article31398578.ece/374dd/AUTOCROP/w620/The%20IKEA%20manual%20warns%20customers%20that%20if%20a%20dresser%20is%20not%20mounted%20to%20a%20wall%20that%20it%20can%20fall
And they even have an Assembly Service link if you can’t assemble it
So not sorry, but I’m blaming the parent.
I own that, in a different color. And yes it does come with a warning (in the store) and free hardware (in the box) and clear and visible instructions - and guess what, in spite of my being a member of the safety police, it’s not currently secured because it’s in a temporary location and not on a carpet and there are no young kids in the house, and most of all, even if it tipped it would hit another piece of furniture which is facing it fairly closely. So I’m not worried, but if I were I’d call IKEA and get someone to fix it to the wall for FREE. That’s new with the recall I believe.
I just have a hard time pinning this completely, like everything else, on the parents. Yes we can and should make things safer, and I’ll give Ikea credit for making it a lot easier than just about anywhere else. But honestly there just aren’t enough hours in the day to be perfect, and kids are creative geniuses when it comes to finding ways to abuse the system.
Almost all of us are doing the best we can. We love our kids and want to protect them - but also have them grow up to be independent and resourceful. There’s a lot of pressure and we do make mistakes. It’s better in my opinion to ask why a safety measure isn’t being implemented than to wash one’s hands and smugly declare that the parent is to blame.