Jozef Dudek was put down for a nap at home in Buena Park, California, when his father went in to check on him — and found the 2 year-old boy had been crushed to death under an Ikea Malm dresser.
The tragedy occurred on May 24, but details were not reported until this week. Jozef is at least the 7th child to die in a tip-over incident involving Ikea furniture. His father was not aware of a recall involving 30 million dressers, including the Malm dressers, back in June 2016.
At least 4 children have died and 41 have been injured by Ikea Malm dressers that tipped over, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Other IKEA dressers and chests have caused 3 deaths and 19 reported injuries.
Alan Feldman, a lawyer for the Dudek family, helped win a $50 million settlement on behalf of 3 other children who died under a tipped-over Ikea Malm dressers in the last few years. According to Feldman:
What makes this death more heartbreaking is the fact that last year’s so-called recall was poorly publicized by Ikea and ineffective in getting these defective and unstable dressers out of children’s bedrooms.”
Ikea offered a full refund to consumers who bought certain dressers and chests after 2002, and partial refunds for dressers and chests that were manufactured before 2002.
Ikea also offered a free at-home pick-up, allowed consumers to drop off the recalled dressers at stores for a refund, and also offered free wall-anchoring kits to people who wanted to keep their dressers, as well as help installing the anchoring kits.
Ikea also agreed to re-design their dressers and stop selling products that are not in compliance with the U.S. furniture industry’s voluntary safety standards to prevent dresser tip-over injuries and deaths.
IKEA Malm Dresser Recall
Source: Ikea recalled millions of dressers that were killing toddlers. This family found out too late