Ikea has withdrawn child safety gates from sale and urged parents who bought them to stop using them immediately, following reports that children had fallen down stairs when they opened unexpectedly.
The Swedish retailer said it knew of six children who had needed medical attention as a result of incidents involving its Patrull range of safety gates. A third-party investigation carried out after customer complaints found that the locking mechanism was not reliable despite the gates meeting approved standards.
The models involved are the Patrull safety gate, Patrull Klämma and Patrull Fast. The Fast model has been available since 1998, while the Klämma was launched in 2012 and the Patrull safety gate in 2014. The gates retail at up to £50 in the UK, and almost 3m have been sold worldwide.
Ikea said parents should return the gates to stores where they would receive a full refund, and that no proof of purchase was required. It apologised “for any inconvenience this may cause”.
Maria Thörn, acting business area manager at Children’s Ikea, said Ikea had “zero tolerance regarding child safety”.
She said: “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.”
Any customers who want more information about the recall can contact Ikea on 0203 645 0010.
This is not the first time that Ikea has raised concerns about safety gates. In 2015, it said people who owned Patrull Klämma and Patrull Smidig models with a date stamp of 1510 or earlier should not use them at the top of stairs and offered a refund to customers who wanted to return them.
It said it had received reports of cases where the friction between the wall and the pressure-mounted safety gate had been insufficient to hold the gate in its intended position, while the lower metal bar could constitute a tripping hazard.
A spokesperson said the Patrull Klämma had gone back on sale
following improvements, but that new reports indicated “the quality was still not up to our requirements”.
