Four months after the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned that its dressers posed a serious tip-over hazard, furniture brand Hodedah has agreed to recall around 26,500 four-drawer chests recently. The dressers don’t comply with voluntary industry standards for stability.
Consumer advocates have been sounding the alarm on tippy dressers for several years. According to the CPSC, the risk is all too common. A person is injured about every 20 minutes, and a child dies about every two weeks, from furniture and appliances falling on them. Thousands of those incidents each year involve dressers.
In January, the CPSC took an unusual step and issued an official warning about Hodedah’s H14DR four-drawer dresser chests. This was done because the agency doesn’t have the authority to require companies to recall their products unless it brings a lawsuit. At the time of the warning, the agency stated that it would continue to pressure Hodedah for a recall.
Recall details
This recall involves the Hodedah H14DR four-door dresser. It came in several colors:
- Beech
- Mahogany
- Chocolate
- Cherry
- White
- Black
The dresser measures about 40 inches tall and weighs about 84 pounds. It was sold at a variety of online retailers between July 2017 and April 2020.
Currently, there are no reports of injuries or deaths involving this particular dresser, but it fails industry-standard tests for stability. A child could easily become trapped if the dresser fell, and it is common for unstable dressers and other furniture to tip over when children climb on them or when they are not secured to a wall.
Hodedah is offering a full refund, including prepaid shipping labels, to facilitate the return of the faulty dressers. In order to help people to avoid having to leave home in order to return it, the company will accept just the drawer slides as a return. Consumers can then discard the rest of the dresser.
Alternatively, Hodedah will send a free anti-tip anchoring kit that will allow you to secure the dresser to a wall. However, this does not ensure that the faulty dresser will never be used without the anchor, so the hazard remains.
If you own a Hodedah H14DR dresser, immediately stop using it and put it somewhere no children can access. Then, contact Hodedah at 855-463-3324 or by email at Recalls@Hodedah.com or on the company’s website and ask for the refund and return option.
“Hodedah failed its customers by not recalling these dressers months ago, but better late than never,” said a spokesperson for Consumer Reports.
