KMart Four-Drawer Chest Recall Issued Over Tipover Risk
Nearly 20,000 four drawer dressers sold exclusively at Kmart have been recalled, due to concerns the furniture may be unstable and prone to tip over if it is not properly anchored to the wall, posing a risk of entrapment or trauma injuries for children.
The Kmart dresser recall was announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on August 11, after determining the Essential Home dressers do not comply with recommended industry standards intended to prevent tip-over incidents, which were established after a number of children were seriously injured or killed in furniture tip over accidents in prior years.
The recall includes an estimated 19,900 Essential Home Belmont 2.0 dressers equipped with four drawers and measures approximately 29.8 inches in height and 27.7 inches in width. The dressers were sold in Black with model number F214-PRF, Pine with model number F214-MEF, Walnut with model number F214-WAF, and White with model number F214-BRF.
The dressers were manufactured in Brazil under Movies K1 LTDA and were distributed by Transform SR Holding Management LLC, of Hoffman Estates, Illinois. They were sold exclusively at Kmart stores nationwide and online at Kmart.com from March 2018 through April 2020, for about $60.
Consumers are being asked to stop using the recalled dressers immediately if they are not properly anchored to a wall, and to place them in an area that children cannot access.
Despite the recall, the manufacturer is not offering customers a refund option, and will be offering a free anchoring kit. For customers who purchased a dresser on or after February 11, 2019, Transform will be offering a free in-home installation of the wall anchoring kit by request.
Customers with additional questions concerning the recall are encouraged to contact Transform at 800-659-7026 and report any tip-over incidents to the CPSC.
Although the manufacturer has voluntarily issued the recall, some critics have claimed the dressers should have been recalled nearly a year ago when Kmart and Sears announced the Belmont dresser recall that impacted roughly one million four drawer dressers that were not in compliance with the voluntary industry standards set forth by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) to prevent tip-over incidents.
Furniture Tip-Over Concerns
Over the last decade, millions of dressers, chests and bedroom furniture pieces have been recalled by major retailers including IKEA, Walmart, Sears and others due to the products failing to meet voluntary safety standards that prevent tip-over accidents.
In June 2016, IKEA recalled 35 million MALM dressers found to be in violation of industry standards that require furniture over specified heights to be anchored to walls to prevent tip-over hazards to consumers. Several deaths and dozens of injuries have been related directly to the MALM series dressers.
Furniture tip-over problems are among the top hidden hazards in the home, and have caused at least 430 deaths over the last 13 years. Approximately 38,000 emergency room visits occur each year due to furniture tip-over injuries, according to information collected by the CPSC.
Currently, there are no mandatory standards which furniture manufacturers must follow when designing furniture to help prevent them from tipping over, only recommended safety standard by ASTM.
The voluntary standards encourage manufacturers to design dressers and other pieces of furniture measuring over 30 inches tall to be able to withstand holding 50 pounds on each dresser drawer when it is extended without tipping over, however industry critics have claimed this recommended tip-over weight does not represent the actual weight of the children who are most hurt by tip-over incidents.