IKEA offers repairs for dressers after two children die

WASHINGTON - IKEA North America is offering repairs for 27 million chests of drawers after two children were killed when the dressers tipped over on them, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Wednesday.

The Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, company, a unit of Swedish furniture retailer IKEA AB, is making available free wall-anchoring kits for its MALM three- and four-drawer chests, two styles of six-drawer MALM chests, and for other chests of drawers and dressers, the commission said in a statement.

"The chests and dressers can pose a tipover hazard if not securely anchored to the wall," the statement said.

A 2-year-old boy from West Chester, Pennsylvania, died in February 2014 when a six-drawer MALM chest fell on him and pinned him to a bed, the statement said.

A 23-month-old child from Snohomish, Washington, was killed in June 2014 when a three-drawer MALM chest tipped over and trapped him.

IKEA and the consumer panel have gotten 14 reports of tipover accidents involving MALM chests, resulting in four injuries.

IKEA also knows of three other reports of deaths since 1989 from tipovers involving other models of IKEA chests and dressers, the statement said.

About 7 million MALM chests and 20 million other IKEA chests and dressers are involved in the repair programme.

The MALM chests were sold starting in 2002 at a price ranging from about $80 (S$110) to $200 (S$274).