Last year, Ikea recalled its Malm dresser, a low-cost piece of furniture that was cited in the deaths of three small children, due to it tipping over. It also paid out $50 million to the families of the dead children in a settlement.
However, the Malm dresser continues to be a hazard—Ikea sold 65 million of the units around the world over the preceding 13 years, and many are still out there. On Thursday, ABC News reported that an eighth child, two-year-old Californian Jozef Dudek, was crushed by the Malm during his nap time.
“Our hearts go out to the affected family, and we offer our sincere condolences during this most difficult time,” Ikea said in a statement to the broadcaster. “The initial investigation indicates that the chest involved in this incident had not been properly attached to the wall.”
The first child deaths to be publicly associated with the Malm dressers occurred in 2014. In mid-2015, Ikea started offering customers repair kits to secure the dressers against walls, to prevent them toppling over. The Swedish firm is still offering these kits or refunds.
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The affected range includes dressers with between three and six drawers, costing from $80 to $200. The model that reportedly killed Dudek had three drawers.
The non-profit Kids In Danger told ABC News that repair kits or refunds had been issued for as little as 3% of the units that had been sold, leaving millions of Malm dressers as “ticking land mines in a child’s bedroom.” However, Ikea said it was impossible to know how many unsecured dressers remain in use.
