A drawer chest sold exclusively at Costco Warehouse stores was recalled last week. The chests can easily tip over if the chests are not anchored to the wall, according to a notice published on the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission website. Samson International issued the recall after receiving a report of an incident involving a 10-year-old child.
Samson recalled its Universal Broadmoore Cayden Gentleman’s nine-drawer chests on July 7. Consumers are warned to stop using the recalled chests if they are not properly anchored to the wall and to make sure children are not near them. Samson is providing a free tip-over restraint kit and free in-home installation of the restraint kit. Consumers can also return the chests at Costco locations for a full refund.
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The recall covers chests with the model/item number M71C3180. They are brown and measure 49 inches tall, 55 inches wide, and 18 inches deep. The chests have a label on the back with “Samson International, Costco item number 1335751, and when it was manufactured printed on it. The recall covers chests made between September 2019 and November 2019. They were sold at Costco stores nationwide and at Costco.com between December 2019 and April 2020 for about $700. Consumers can contact Samson by phone at 800-357-0701 or email at customerservice@samsoninternational.com.
The recall is not the first time furniture has been recalled because of a tip-over problem. The most notable recall came in 2016 when Ikea recalled 17.3 million dressers because of the problem. In January 2020, Ikea agreed to pay a California family $46 million after their 2-year-old son was killed after an unsecured Ikea dresser fell on him in 2017. In January 2021, Ikea began asking customers to acknowledge that its dressers must be attached to walls, or there will be a risk of tip-over if they are not.
The problem is so prevalent that Crystal Ellis established the Parents Against Tip-Overs network. Her son Camden died after he was injured when an Ikea Malm dresser fell on top of him in 2014. The group’s website cites a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission report that found a child dies every 11 days in the U.S. when a piece of furniture or television falls on them.
There have also been multiple attempts to pass the Stop Tip-overs of Unstable, Risky Dressers on Youth Act in Congress. In May, the bill passed the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, according to Furniture Today. The House passed a previous version of the bill unanimously in 2019, but it never gained support in the Senate. The bill would require the CPSC to establish a furniture stability standard for companies to follow.
