About six months ago, Ikea agreed to pay $46 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a “toddler who died after being crushed by a Malm dresser.” That settlement hasn’t stopped others from gathering together to file a potential class-action lawsuit against the Swedish furniture company. According to the suit, the company “knowingly sold dangerous dressers and issued inadequate recall efforts.”

Recalled IKEA chest; image courtesy of the CPSC, https://www.cpsc.gov/

The suit was filed on May 6 by two parents from Minnesota. According to them, “that they bought two Malm dressers before the recall, and their local Ikea wouldn't let them return the dressers after the recall.” It further alleges that “Ikea's recall was inadequate and feeble.” The recall in question isn’t the first one the company issued for dangerous dressers. In fact, Ikea has a history of selling and recalling dressers prone to tipping over. Back in June 2016, the company “recalled 29 million chests and dressers… after at least six toddlers were crushed by dressers that tipped over.” Of that recall, about “eight million were from the Malm line.” Then, in November 2016, the company recalled “about 29 million Malm and other Ikea chests and dressers that posed tip-over hazards following a fourth report that of a child fatality associated with the Malm dresser, which occurred in 2011.” In 2017, Ikea “re-announced a recall of Malm and other Ikea chests and dressers after an eighth child fatality.” Then, in March of this year, it “voluntarily recalled 820,000 Kullen dressers at risk of tipping over and seriously injuring or killing children.” Many of the past recalls also resulted in lawsuits, primarily over the safety of the dressers. The latest potential class-action suit filed against Ikea “focuses on whether Ikea has sufficiently recalled the dressers.” To bolster its allegations, the suit includes claims from customers on Twitter, Reddit, Yelp, and Facebook, all alleging that “Ikea didn't honor the terms of the recall, didn't let them return their defective dressers, and didn't provide cash refunds.”Ikea has pushed back against the allegations, however. According to the company, it has “allocated significant resources to recalls.” A spokesperson for the company said:“Since announcing the 2016 chest of drawers recall in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), we’ve been investing millions of dollars in ongoing communication about both the recall and tip-over prevention through a number of different channels, including ikea.com, paid advertising, social media channels, email, and press outreach…To date, Ikea has sent over 16.7 million emails regarding the recall to its customers, including Ikea Family loyalty program members and known purchasers. As a result, more than 1.54M chest of drawers have been addressed through the recall—1,080,956 through wall attachment kits and 448,082 through refunds.”

Sources:

https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/a32447190/ikea-class-action-lawsuit-for-malm-dresser-recall-2020/Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Ikea Over Faulty Furniture Recall