Ikea extends dresser recall to China following outcry

Dive Brief:

Bowing to heavy criticism from Chinese consumers, Ikea has expanded its furniture recall to some 1.7 million dressers and chests sold across the mainland China market.
After multiple reports of injuries and fatalities in recent years, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission pressured Ikea to agree to a voluntary North American recall of 29 million Malm dressers that the Swedish furniture maker says should be properly affixed to a wall to prevent mishaps.
Ikea said earlier this year that it has sold 65 million Malm dresser units worldwide over 13 years. Ikea hasn’t commented to news outlets on its new promise to issue refunds to Chinese customers who bought Malm units.

Dive Insight:

While Ikea had maintained that its Malm dressers should be affixed to a wall, a step that helps them meet Chinese safety standards, many users fail to take that advice. The dressers were the subject of a less stringent U.S. recall last year that called for “repairs” and recommended anchoring kits; the Shenzhen Consumer Council, a government agency, earlier this month also called for investigations and protections to boost the safety of Ikea chests and dressers sold across China.

China’s official news agency, Xinhau, on Sunday published an editorial decrying Ikea’s “arrogance” and irresponsibility in limiting the recall to North America, according to Fortune.

The Consumer Federation of America and the National Center for Health Research applauded the U.S. recall. The organizations previously criticized Ikea's handling of the matter and called on the company to halt sales of the units.

“The July 2015 announcement by CPSC and Ikea also did not inform consumers that the Ikea dresser in question fails to meet a voluntary safety standard agreed to by the furniture industry, ASTM F2057-14,” the Consumer Federation of America/National Center for Health Research said in April. “While the voluntary standard is considered by many to be weak, it does require testing to ensure each drawer is able to withstand a 50-pound weight, while open, without the dresser tipping over. At less than 2 years old, it is unlikely the child in the most recent death weighed more than 50 pounds. Had the dresser complied with industry standards, he may have survived.”

Ikea also faces a series of lawsuits related to the recalled dressers. “There is no reason for Ikea furniture to be so unstable and prone to tip over that it threatens the very lives of small children who have these dressers in their bedrooms," said attorney Alan Friedman, whose firm Feldman Shepherd represents the families of three boys killed when Ikea Malm dressers tipped over. "Ikea knows how to design and build safer products, and it’s time for this company to get its act together.”