Imagine relaxing on a beach somewhere in a comfortable beach chair. The sun’s shining and you’re having a great day, until you prepare to leave and go to fold up your beach chair, only to have the tips of your fingers hacked off in the process. Sounds pretty ridiculous and hard to believe, right? Well, believe it, because this was the reality for a handful of people worldwide who made the unfortunate choice to purchase, use, and fold up IKEA’s Mysingo beach chairs. Recently, IKEA issued a recall of these finger hacking chairs, “citing the product’s tendency to injure people.”
Imagine relaxing on a beach somewhere in a comfortable beach chair. The sun’s shining and you’re having a great day, until you prepare to leave and go to fold up your beach chair, only to have the tips of your fingers hacked off in the process. Sounds pretty ridiculous and hard to believe, right? Well, believe it, because this was the reality for a handful of people worldwide who made the unfortunate choice to purchase and use IKEA’s Mysingo beach chairs. Recently, IKEA issued a recall of these finger hacking beach chairs, “citing the product’s tendency to injure people.”
Amid worldwide complaints about the chair’s lack of safety, the Swedish furniture maker is complying with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and issuing “full refunds for a total 33,000 chairs, after it received 13 complaints of incidents that harmed people worldwide.” Out of the incident reports, at least six entailed “fingertip amputations.” Of those six fingertip amputation incidents, three occurred here in the US.
Unfortunately, these Mysingo chairs are some of IKEA’s most popular. Manufactured in Bosnia and Hersegovina, they’re available in a variety of fun colors. They were “on the market nationwide from February 2013 to December 2016” and were affordably priced at $25 per chair. But what part of the chair was chopping off fingers? Well, the chairs were “foldable with a wood base and an attached polyester fabric seat that easily” collapsed, which is where the danger was. How so? According to IKEA, “after washing the fabric seat it is possible to reassemble to chair incorrectly leading to risks of falls or finger entrapments.”
In addition to being recalled in the US, the chairs have also been recalled in “Finland, Germany, Denmark and Australia.” But believe it or not, instances like this one are pretty common. Consumer products are recalled all the time for one reason or another. Often times it’s because something “doesn’t meet the safety standards of government regulators in a specific country.”
So what should you do if you have one of these chairs? For now, consumers are being advised to return them for a full refund. As an added convenience, IKEA issued a statement on their website saying that “proof of receipt isn’t necessary for a full refund.” For further information, customers can contact IKEA at their toll-free number: (888)966-4532.
Sources:
IKEA’s Recalling 33,000 Beach Chairs Because They Slice People’s Fingers Off
Amputated Fingers Prompts IKEA Recall Of 30,000 Beach Chairs
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