WASHINGTON – Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has teamed with Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois in urging Swedish furniture seller Ikea to "conduct a full recall" of a brand of dresser that has tipped over and killed three people during the past two years.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Mike Ward, president of Ikea's North America division, the Midwest Democrats also called for Ikea to stop selling its Malm dresser until "safety improvements are made."
Ikea has offered free wall-anchoring kits for the dresser in response to tipping injuries.
But many buyers are not aware of the tipping risk or the offer to fix it, Klobuchar and Schakowsky said.
The parents of 22-month-old Teddy McGee of Apple Valley have said they did not know about the dangers of the Malm dresser that tipped over and fatally injured their son in February.
Klobuchar and Schakowsky called Ikea's remedial efforts "clearly insufficient." "Your company states that it has distributed 300,000 new wall anchors, which only covers about 1 percent of the 27 million dressers it has sold."
Ikea did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the Klobuchar-Schakowsky letter.
Klobuchar, Schakowsky and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., have also asked the Consumer Product Safety Commission to order a recall and suspension of sales of Malm dressers.
