Image Courtesy of Ikea.com
With 39 locations across the United States, Ikea is one of the most popular retail stores offering affordable and ready-to-assemble furniture, home accessories, and appliances.
On June 28, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Ikea announced it will voluntarily recall about 29 million chests and drawers. Since 1989, six children have been crushed to death by a toppled chest or dresser.
CPSC chairman Elliot Kaye stated, “These are inherently very dangerous and unstable products if children are around them.” Recalled furniture that was manufactured between 2002 and 2016 entitles customers to a full refund. Ikea is also offering a repair kit for designated dressers—as well as in-home installation of a wall anchor.
For a complete list of recalled chest and dressers, here is a link to the names and models.
Despite the creation of a repair program last July, more incidents have been reported, including the death of a 22-month-old boy from Apple Valley, Minnesota in February 2016.
Ikea’s voluntary decision to recall its dressers implicates an important aspect of products liability law: limitations on defectiveness. A user of a product must prove that the product is defective—that is, the product is unfit for ordinary use or unreasonably dangerous.
A manufacturer’s discovery that its product is defective may trigger a post-sale duty to warn or a post-sale duty to recall or retrofit. The former is far more recognized because courts are reluctant to impose the latter on manufacturers, reasoning that governmental regulatory agencies like the CPSC are better suited than courts to handle such matters.
Product recalls are important for consumers because they can moot or provide defenses against many lawsuits. If you have any questions, or feel that we can assist you in this matter, please contact us at 214-956-7474.
