Millions of Plastic Furniture Tip-Over Zip Ties Recalled After Reports of Failures

Millions of anchoring kits designed to prevent furniture from tipping over are being recalled, because the plastic zip-ties may become brittle and break, allowing heavy furniture to fall on young children, causing serious and potentially life-threatening injuries.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the New Age furniture tip kit recall on January 11, indicating the agency has become aware of at least two reports involving the plastic pieces breaking.

The restraint kits include a plastic zip-tie, two metal brackets, and two screws, which attach and anchor furniture to a wall, such as book shelves, dressers, chests, and armoires, to keep them secure and prevent them from tipping over and falling on top of children.

Officials indicate the plastic zip ties included in the kits may weaken and break, which can allow furniture to detach from the wall and tip-over. While no injuries have been reported, small children can become entrapped or crushed under the weight of the heavy furniture, similar furniture tip-over accidents have been linked to a number of deaths and devastating injuries in prior years.

New Age Furniture Tip-Over Kit Recall

The recall impacts millions of plastic furniture tip-over restraint kits manufactured by New Age Industries, which were sold with several types of clothing storage furniture. They were distributed online and in stores nationwide from November 2019 to present, by at least 31 different furniture companies, including Ashley Furniture and Aspenhome.

To see the complete list of furniture companies that sold the recalled tip-over kits, consumers may visit the CPSC website and view the recall announcement linked above.

Consumers are urged to contact Alliance4Safety for a free replacement kit if their furniture was manufactured in November 2019 or later, and if the included kit is made of plastic.

For more information, or to request a replacement, Alliance4Safety can be contacted toll-free at 855-416-7370, or online at www.alliance4safety.org/new-age-recall.

Furniture Tip-Over Accidents

Safety regulators have been concerned about furniture tip-over accidents for years, and the CPSC has made prevention of these incidents a major focus, following a number of injuries and deaths among children. These accidents usually occur when a small child attempts to reach for something high up on a dresser or the top of a television, and their weight causes the furniture to fall over on top of them.

In September The CPSC put new mandatory tip-over prevention standards into effect, requiring chests, dressers, and other clothing storage furniture to go through rigorous testing to ensure they will not tip-over when full of clothing, has open drawers, is placed on carpeting, or has a weight of 60 pounds placed on it.

The CPSC indicates at least 234 total tip-over accident deaths involving clothing storage furniture occurred between January 2000 and April 2022, which included at least 199 child deaths. The agency estimates there were approximately 84,100 tip-over accident injuries treated in U.S. emergency rooms from 2006 to 2021.