This Well-liked Thrifted Merchandise Has a Harmful Design Flaw, However Fortunately There’s an Simple Repair

When you have one at residence, you actually need to learn this.

Final month, TikTok consumer @graceful_designs_diy, often known as Grace, posted about an vintage cedar chest that each thrift shopper ought to concentrate on to forestall pointless deaths.

The merchandise was made by the Lane Company between 1912 and 1987, and was fashionable on the time. Sadly, the chest design had one flaw. It had a lock that couldn’t be opened from inside. So, when kids hid inside, they unintentionally received trapped, leading to a complete of 14 fatalities brought on by suffocation. The corporate had issued a recall, however an estimated six million are nonetheless in circulation within the reseller market at the moment.

“Though the U.S. Product Security Fee has made clear that it’s unlawful to resell recalled items, it isn’t unusual to see these locks on these classic chests,” mentioned Grace.

Fortunately, the answer is easy for individuals who personal such an vintage. You possibly can simply contact the corporate and inform them that you just nonetheless have their outdated lock and so they’ll ship you a brand new, improved model. Or, you possibly can simply take away the lock by yourself and go away it off or put in a safer one from the ironmongery shop.

With so many models of the cedar chest nonetheless accessible for buy, it’s good that Grace’s video has raised consciousness in regards to the hazard of proudly owning this and different recalled items of furnishings. The truth is, lots of her followers solely realized in regards to the security problem due to her TikTok clip.

“You might be saving lives!! We inherited one two years in the past proper when our son was born and had no thought. He’s a toddler now and we shall be breaking the lock,” mentioned one commenter. 

One other remark reads: “I actually inherited considered one of these two weeks in the past and had no thought. Thanks!”

A 3rd commenter added: “I’ve considered one of these recalled chests in my residence. It’s a stupendous piece, and I had no thought it was so harmful.”

For additional details about the Lane Firm’s cedar chest, you possibly can take a look at their product security advisory web page here.