Ikea facing lawsuits claiming its furniture is unbalanced, dangerous

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Friday, January 8, 2016
Ikea sued over complaints about falling furniture
Clayton Sandell reporting live

In two wrongful death lawsuits -- one filed days ago and another filed in May 2015 -- the families of Camden Ellis and Curren Collas said the young boys were crushed by falling Ikea dressers.

The lawsuits claim furniture store Ikea knew the furniture "lacked counterbalancing weight," causing the dresser to be top-heavy and front-heavy. Ikea denies the claims.

But the federal government says it's not just Ikea. Falling furniture and TVs send a child to the hospital every 24 minutes, and every two weeks, one is killed.

Last summer, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Ikea announced that 27 million of chests and dressers were potentially unsafe if unsecured.

Instead of a recall, Ikea launched its "secure it" program, making free anchor kits available to consumers.

The kits add brackets that can be used to attach furniture to the wall.

Ikea said it won't comment on the pending litigation, but that it is "committed to product safety and educating our customers about the need to properly secure chests of drawers to the wall."

"The anchor kits are not enough. The first thing they need to do is design-in safety," said Alan Feldman, lawyer for Collas and Ellis families.

The two families said they are hoping to keep furniture billed as modern and inexpensive from also becoming deadly.