Latest bad news for Ikea: CPSC recalls its beach chairs

They are a basic beach staple – chairs with a foldable wooden base and fabric sling-type seat. While it might not be beach season yet in New York, you still should look at any chairs you have purchased from Ikea.

The recall affects the MYSINGSÖ chair sold between February 2013 and December 2016 for about $25. The Consumer Product Safety Commission received reports of incidents that caused concern. Six of 10 injury report included amputated fingertips.

What to do now?

NBC news provides the exact fabric colors and product numbers involved, if you are worried you may have one of these chairs. When you have one of these chairs, you can bring it back to an Ikea store for a replacement or a full refund. We strongly encourage you to get these chairs out of your home to avoid injury.

Last summer, a separate Ikea furniture recall related to chests and dressers from the MALM design line. In a January blog post, we reported on the deadly tip-over accidents and a settlement reached with families of three toddlers.

CPSC involvement

What does it take for the CPSC to issue a recall? The CPSC conducts independent investigations when it receives complaints from consumers. It may also call for broad change when it sees patterns. For example, the agency has called for the furniture industry to design more stable products over the years.

When the agency finds that corrective action is required, a manufacturer or retailer may agree to voluntarily issue a recall. In other cases, the CPSC will order a mandatory recall.

Products liability lawsuits may come first and prompt the CPSC to investigate. Other times the publicity from a recall will trigger claims after families tie the cause of an accident to a recall. Whether standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) have been followed is a frequent question. Furniture-related products liability cases also raise complicated issues from determining who might have been liable to analyzing whether the design was defective or warnings were lacking.

Weisfuse & Weisfuse LLP has a track record of success handling these types of cases. If you worry negligent furniture design may have been the cause of an accident that caused serious injury, please call to speak with one of our attorneys.