IKEA SEKTION cabinet ULTRUSTA corner cabinet carousel cabinets, shelves and racks

The reports, as CPSC published them

1. No one hurt

   Made Dec 18, 2019 · , sent to the company Jan 16, 2020 · , published by CPSC Jan 31, 2020

   The product, in the report: Tempered glass shelf of corner cabinet carousel

   In 2017 I had a new kitchen designed and installed using IKEA SEXTION cabinets. The two corner wall cabinets on each side of the stove have the UTRUSTA corner cabinet carousels which have two tempered glass shelves each.

   On Friday, December 6, 2019 I was sitting in my living room with my back to the kitchen when I heard an explosion and sound of breaking glass. There were pieces of broken glass all over the counter and on the floor. No cabinet doors were open, but when I opened the corner cabinet I saw that the top shelf had shattered and the there was broken glass everywhere. Some of it was in small cubes, as is common with tempered glass when it shatters, but there were also very small slivers and pieces the size and texture of sand. (see photos) I had to clean off food items that were in the cabinet and it took several hours of repeated sweeping and mopping to remove all of the small pieces of glass from the cabinet, its contents, the counters, and the floor. In spite of taking careful precautions, I received a few small cuts because the edges of the shattered glass were very sharp. (I assume that the cabinet door was blown open with the initial explosion and then retracted by the vacuum inside caused by the explosion because it was closed when I entered the kitchen, although there was glass all over the counter below the cabinet as well on the floor 5-6 feet away.)

   The items that had been on the top shelf (the one that shattered) were very light--boxes and small tins of tea, a wooden salad bowl and 8 small wooden individual salad bowls as well as an aluminum vegetable steamer. I had not used any of those items in several months and had not opened the cabinet that day. I had not previously noticed any visible evidence of small cracks or damage to the shelf. The explosion was spontaneous and loud enough so that the HVAC technicians servicing my outside air conditioner on the other side of the house came in to see what happened and to check on my welfare.

   My greatest concern about this product is that it seems to have exploded spontaneously and without any apparent cause. The glass sits on a plastic support and has a “rail” around the outside (see photo). It is a simple design and installation was simple and done by a contractor. I see no reason why it would shatter in such a way almost two years after installation. I am also concerned about the fact that I have two cabinets with these shelves (4 shelves in all) and the regular shelves in my upper cabinets and bar are presumably made by the same manufacturer. From researching the reasons for sudden shattering of tempered glass, I found that some types, particularly less expensive tempered glass, may contain impurities that over time can cause this type of failure spontaneously. Glass which has been cooled more rapidly also tends to be more likely to fail. Therefore, the quality of the glass itself is an important factor in its safety and a less expensive tempered glass is more likely to fail. Although industry standards in the US are quite high for tempered glass, imported glass has a higher risk of failure.

   When I spoke with a Risk Compliance person at IKEA in Tempe, AZ, I asked if IKEA had any reported incidents of similar accidents. He said he had no information on that, and that someone would call me from customer service to arrange for shipping the damaged product back to the store. I was reluctant to do so until I had more information on similar incidents and expressed disappointment that IKEA was not more interested in investigating the incident rather than just replacing the shelf. During our call, I was disconnected twice. Although at the time I thought the disconnect was because of spotty cell service at my location, I saw when I checked with CPSC that this had also happened to two other customers who called in about spontaneous glass shattering incidents with IKEA products. There are no other reports currently filed with the CPSC on incidents with glass shelves in IKEA kitchen cabinets, but there were over 10 incidents with IKEA tempered glass tables and desks. I plan to call the national IKEA safety office again to ask if the manufacturer of the kitchen glass shelves is the same as that for the tables and desks cited in the other cases filed with the CPSC.

   I invested a considerable amount in my new kitchen and am concerned about my longterm safety as well as that of my pets. As the safety officer I talked to in the national office of IKEA said, I need to feel comfortable in my own kitchen. The fact that the Risk Compliance representative from Tempe failed to mention any similar incidents or to say that he would follow up to find more information was unsettling, particularly when I was able to access the CPSC reports with a simple internet search.

   Model

   802.656.47 (code on IKEA receipt)

   Bought from

   IKEA

   Bought

   Feb 12, 2018

   Where

   Tucson, Arizona: Home/Apartment/Condominium

   Who was involved

   Age 78, Female

   The reporter’s relation to them

   Self

   As this report names them

   Brand IKEA SEKTION cabinet ULTRUSTA corner cabinet carousel, made or sold by IKEA North America Services, LLC

   How badly, in CPSC’s words

   Incident, No Injury

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources