Safety is important after the furniture leaves the shop.

[Mike Davis]

Ikea pays $46 million to crushed toddler's family; largest payout in history | Woodworking Network

Swedish furniture giant Ikea has agreed to pay $46 million to the family of a toddler who was killed in 2017 by a falling dresser.

www.woodworkingnetwork.com

 

[zapdafish]

I believe there is a show called Broken on Netflix that has an episode on Ikea that goes into this. Not this particular case but the unsafe furniture they and others sell.

 

[chris_goris]

The article claims Ikea had some sort of program to alert the public of this... I dont own any Ikea furniture, but I never heard anything about any of this. Seems like their program was not all that well advertised. did anyone else here, hear of this?

 

[Mike Davis]

I do recall something about securing their chests to the wall.

I may have mentioned here that I always attach my book shelves to the wall.

 

[tri4sale]

The article claims Ikea had some sort of program to alert the public of this... I dont own any Ikea furniture, but I never heard anything about any of this. Seems like their program was not all that well advertised. did anyone else here, hear of this?

Yes, I did hear about this, and it isn't just Ikea furniture, any dresser can easily tip over. All the recent tall furniture I've bought has included a chain to attach to the wall. A lot of the falling furniture is from kids being kids, climbing on it and pulling a top shelf out and it pulls over and tips.

 

[pcooper]

A lot of what they sell is also particle board, so it's heavier than regular wood. I've seen some of their stuff that had cheap drawer slides that would allow a drawer to ease out with very little tilting of the cabinet part, which would allow all drawers to tip and slide out. I make all my furniture with hardwood runners, they're smooth but not so slick that you don't have to put any effort in to open them. How many Ikea customers would know how to properly attach a wall bracket? I would like to know how easy they turn over if they're not attached to anything other than drywall. I know it would be better than nothing, but just how much better...

 

[Gotcha6]

Schools don't teach simple physics anymore, or at least, some people don't think about it.
Having said that, I had a cousin whose son pulled over a dresser AND a TV onto himself, breaking both legs in the process.
Not trying to minimize a tragedy here, just saying people shouldn't always try to find a deep pocket to solve their deficiencies in common sense.

 

[NCPete]

I spent 13 years in furniture sales, and I believe we had wall connector kits nearly that entire time - and I have been out of that business for 7 years now. Shocking that, considering that Ikea had similar hardware in their kits, with instructions how to place it, that they were found negligent and had to pay.

 

[zapdafish]

in the netflix special, supposedly there are knockdown designs that wont fall over but they dont incoprorate it because it adds to the cost. But the instructions they supply do say to attach to the wall. Sounds to me like an emotional issue because children died.