IKEA's MALM three-drawer, four-drawer and six-drawer dressers have been responsible for three deaths and several other injuries after they tipped over on to children.
(KMSP) - Sen. Amy Klobuchar and several other lawmakers are calling on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to initiate a full recall of all IKEA’s MALM dressers after three children, including one toddler from the Twin Cities, were killed when the dressers tipped over.
After the deaths of two children in 2014, CPSC and IKEA announced a repair program that would provide free wall anchoring kits for MALM dressers.
In February, a third child, 22-month-old Theodore “Ted” McGee of Apple Valley, Minn., was killed when a MALM dresser tipped over and crushed him. His family was reportedly unaware that the dressers had already caused two deaths and posed a danger if not properly secured to the wall.
In a letter to CPSC sent Tuesday, Klobuchar, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D.-Ill.) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.) said the repair program started in July 2015 has not done enough to prevent deaths and injuries from the dressers. The lawmakers urged the federal agency to conduct a full recall of the MALM dressers and stop the sale of the dressers until safety improvements can be made.
According to CPSC, a child dies every two weeks and a child is injured every 24 minutes from furniture or TVs tipping over.