An IKEA Malm dresser that can tip over when a toddler opens one of the drawers and tries to climb on it has led to another death.
Two-year-old Jozef Dudek died in May, after IKEA had recalled the product. In the recall, the company was offering full or partial refunds for the product in addition to free wall-anchoring kits that would attach the furniture to the wall, making it safe to use.
Dudek is now the eighth toddler to die under such circumstances. His family was not aware of the recall, according to attorney Daniel Mann, who is representing the company.
His colleague Alan Feldman said that Jozef’s death was “completely avoidable,” adding that IKEA’s recall effort was poorly executed as it was not publicized properly. The company sent its condolences to the family.
The company aded that it went to “great lengths to get the word out” about recalling the futniture, including a national advertising campaign, millions of emails to consumers and information “posted prominently” in stores.
Last June, IKEA said the recall affected 29 million dressers in the U.S., but it has yet to reveal how many of these have actually been returned. During the first six months of the recall, about 882,500 dressers were recalled or fixed through a wall-mounting system, amounting to 3% of the recalled products.
Some of the dressers sold date back to over a decade, making it difficult to know how many are still in use.
