IKEA recalls baby safety gates after children fall down stairs
Swedish furniture retailer removes all PATRULL safety gates from stores and websites globally saying ‘locking mechanism is not reliable’
IKEA has removed 80,000 safety gates from all of its stores and websites globally after the gates were found to open unexpectedly. This has led to cases where children have fallen down stairs.
The world’s largest furniture retailer has urged all customers to stop using the PATROL KLÄMMA and PATRULL FAST gates immediately and return them for a full refund.
According to the retailer, the locking mechanisms on the gates were not “reliable, posing a risk for small children”.
IKEA received 55 complaints on the faulty gates - sold at all stores from 1995 to 2016 – following 10 reported incidents. These resulted in injuries ranging from concussions to cuts and bruising to children who fell down stairs after the gates failed.
Acting Business Area Manager at Children’s IKEA Maria Thörn says, “At IKEA, we take a zero tolerance perspective regarding child safety. We want to offer safe products and we believe that children are the most important people in the world.
More like this
“Whenever we are made aware of a possible safety issue with our products, we investigate thoroughly. We cannot accept that there could be a risk of injury while playing and as an immediate and precautionary action we have decided to recall all PATRULL safety gates.
“IKEA is not willing to risk children’s safety and therefore urges all customers that have a PATRULL safety gate to immediately stop using it and to bring it back to an IKEA store for a full refund.”
- 6 baby safety rules that can genuinely save lives
- Baby dummies - 7 safety checks every parent needs to know
What does this mean for parents?
IKEA is offering full refunds to anyone who has purchased the gates, even if you don’t have a receipt.
You can identify the gates by the label attached to the metal bar at the bottom of the safety gate containing product information (picture above).
It'll have the manufacturing date stamp year-week (YYWW) on the right hand side of the label as indicated above.
All customers can also call the IKEA helpline for more information on the recall number 0203 645 0010.
We've got more safety information:
Authors
Having been a journalist for 15 years – and Reviews Editor at MadeForMums for five of those – Hazelann has accrued a lot of experience testing and reviewing every baby product imaginable.
How NatPat's wellness patches may help your family
NatPat's range of wellness patches and stickers aim to tackle everything from allergies to lack of focus. We take a closer look at the range.