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Dressers keep killing kids. So IKEA is finally redesigning them
- favorited 7y agoThis is a great thing to see. When we were kids, my brother crawled into a dresser drawer when we were playing around. His weight on the open drawer caused the dresser to fall forward, trapping him inside a partially closed drawer. I barely got out of the way before it fell on me. And, being a huge wooden dresser, my mother couldn't lift it herself to get him out. If it had fallen differently we both could have died, and there was nothing wrong with the dresser itself. We were just dumb kids who liked climbing in things. It's one of my earliest vivid memories.
- 7952 7y agoIn these kind of cases they always seem to treat it as an accident and not prosecute the parents. I wonder if that is actually an effective strategy.
- js2 7y agoIf protecting your kids from injury or death isn’t sufficient incentive, I don’t really think prosecution will make a difference. But I’m curious why parents aren’t anchoring these to the walls in the first place. I don’t think it’s malice. Ignorance? Too much trouble? Not handy enough to do it themselves? Believing the drawers won’t fall over? (I’m a parent and had IKEA furniture when our kids were young and I anchored it, but I’m handy and like to think responsible.)
- Nasrudith 7y agoMy guess is that it intuitively seems "unnecessary" to their scale like it won't really tip over and it is for if you actually want it not touching the floor. Unfortunately that isn't the case.
- neetle 7y agoFrom my experience, the landlord would throw us out of the house if we even breathe the wrong way - let alone screw in holes in the wall.
- tbyehl 7y agoChild mortality rates have plummeted over the past century -> lower fertility rates -> more outrage over every child's death -> let's prosecute someone every time a child dies!
- wodenokoto 7y agoI guess not even parents screw them to the wall. The fixtures have always been included, and the manual warns owners to fix the furniture to the wall.
- magduf 7y agoYeah, I think this is a pretty classic example showing how almost no one actually reads the manual or follows the instructions.
- tropo 7y agoThat just isn't reasonable. It damages the wall. Many people have basement heat, which means a 3-inch gap. Either you make a huge hole for a toggle bolt and then lose the hardware forever, or you have to find a stud. Lots of people are incapable of finding a stud. People want to move furniture for vacuuming. Renters aren't supposed to drill holes in the walls. The reasonable solution is weight in the bottom, but that is either expensive to ship or the customer must provide it. A slab of lead would be great. A water tank is an interesting solution.
- whymsicalburito 7y agoHow is it not reasonable for people to learn BASIC handy skills? It is in no way shape or form unreasonable to expect people to be able to properly secure something to their wall unless they have a physical impairment.
- toomuchtodo 7y agoLearned helplessness.
- whymsicalburito 7y agosadly so so true :(
- 7y ago
- dfeojm-zlib 7y agoNice. About time. I think I've seen this feature in some filing cabinets. When I was a kid, I had a heavy metal dresser that was prone to being top-heavy and falling over with just any second drawer barely out of place (the drawers were difficult to move).