Ikea furniture linked to US children's deaths still on sale in Hong Kong amid customer warning
Ikea furniture which tipped over and fatally injured two young boys in the United States remains on sale in Hong Kong with strict instructions it should be attached firmly to a wall.
Ikea furniture which tipped over and fatally injured two young boys in the United States remains on sale in Hong Kong with strict instructions it should be attached firmly to a wall.
The “Malm” chest of drawers, on display at the Ikea Causeway Bay store this afternoon, were described as unstable by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission after they were linked to two deaths last year.
Today, the Swedish furniture giant, which has three stores in Hong Kong, joined US regulators to warn parents to keep Malm chests of drawers away from children unless they were properly anchored to the wall.
The Malm series has at least six different models of chests of drawers.
In Ikea’s Causeway Bay showroom, the six-drawer model is labelled with a warning that it must be attached to the wall with a provided safety fitting.
“[This is] to help prevent it from flipping over if a child climbs or hangs on it,” the label reads.
In the US, Ikea is offering a free kit to help customers affix the furniture to a wall, which will be available to those who bought children’s units taller than 23½ inches or adult units taller than 29½ inches – including 7 million from the Malm series.
According to safety authorities and Ikea, there have been 14 reports of Malm chests of drawers tipping over, injuring four people, as well as three other deaths from different models of drawers from the chain falling on people.
Ikea Hong Kong had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
