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As IKEA’s recent recall of 29 million Malm and other chests and drawers shows, securing large pieces of furniture against tipping is a must in any home (especially one with small children). This grisly video from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission demonstrates how the results of a tipped piece of furniture can be catastrophic. The tests for the ASTM voluntary standards for furniture1 are based on the pulling force of a 50-pound weight, according to Furniture Today—if you know what a curious child is capable of, this simply doesn’t cover all situations. It’s not surprising that the CPSC brochure on childproofing says that “no device is completely childproof; determined youngsters have been known to overcome or disable them.”
With that in mind, we think it’s essential to add anti-tip mechanisms to tall or potentially unstable pieces of furniture, as well as to freestanding flat-screen TVs, to ensure that you’re getting the best protection possible. Some furniture comes with anti-tip hardware, which is a start, but such items are not always of the best quality. We’ve found several products that are well-made, durable, easy to install, and often priced under $10, which is a minimal cost for the upgrade, especially considering what’s at stake.
To be clear, we are making these recommendations in reaction to several tragic accidents. We hope readers understand that we are not trying to take advantage of the families’ losses. The following are products that we have used, as parents who are also Wirecutter writers and editors, and we’re sharing our experience using them as well as some installation tips in the hope that we can help to keep more families safe.
Strong metal hardware and a flexible, easy-to-install design make this a solid option for anchoring any tip-prone furniture at home.
The Hangman TK-400 Anti-Tip Kit consists of a piece of steel cable and a clevis pin on each end. According to Hangman, the kit, when properly installed, can support up to 400 pounds. Cotter pins hold the assembly together, so even if a toddler were to get their hands on the connection points, it’s extremely unlikely that the child could take them apart. The TK-400 comes with all of the necessary mounting hardware, and we like that the connecting cable is metal rather than plastic, as on many products, but is still flexible enough to make the kit easy to install. This kit is recommended by Wirecutter senior editor Dan Frakes, who lives in the earthquake-prone San Francisco Bay Area and has used it on a number of items in his home.
The steel brackets and cable give you ample, sturdy protection, but the compact design is not quite as easy to install in close quarters.
Quakehold is another company that makes highly regarded anti-tip products. The Quakehold 2830 7-inch Steel Furniture Cable works by overlapping two brackets (one on the wall, one on the furniture) and securing them with a through-cable. You secure the cable with two screwed-on end caps rather than cotter pins, but the hardware is still difficult for a child to remove. Dan also recommends this one: Its thicker cable feels sturdier than the Hangman’s—the company claims it can withstand 1,000 pounds of force—and the included screws are thicker and longer. However, that thick cable and the overall design give you less leeway for installation, as the two brackets must be fairly close together for the cable to fit through both. Overall, both the Hangman and Quakehold furniture mounts meet requirements we consider essential for these products, namely an all-metal build, no periodic tightening or maintenance necessary, and the inclusion of all the needed mounting hardware.
For freestanding flat-screen TVs, this strap and adhesive system adjusts to fit many different TV and furniture configurations.
You’ll need something different for a freestanding flat-panel TV that isn't mounted to a wall or a secured stand. Quakehold’s 4520 Universal Flat Screen Safety Straps have very high customer feedback at Amazon. Dan has used these straps at his home for some TVs and large computer displays. Each of the two adjustable straps has a large, adhesive pad that attaches to the back of the TV or display; you attach a metal plate at the other end to your wall or furniture using screws or a similar adhesive pad.
Three points of contact mount to the TV, furniture, and wall, with convenient contact points that anchor to your TV’s existing VESA mount holes.
Wirecutter audio/visual editor Chris Heinonen anchors his freestanding TVs with the Sanus Systems Anti-Tip Strap. Three points of contact on this product mount to the TV, the furniture it’s sitting on, and the wall. Chris and Dan both like one particular detail that makes installation easier and more secure: The piece screws into the existing VESA mounting holes on your TV, so you don’t have to deal with sticky adhesive.
You'll run across a number of other methods for securing a piece of furniture. We wanted to address those here, as well as to take an honest look at all the pros and cons we’ve been able to find through our research and experience. According to Colorado Childproofers, for example, a simple L bracket will do the trick. But those are generic pieces of hardware that don’t come with properly sized screws. They’re also good only for open-backed furniture.
Wirecutter senior editor Harry Sawyers has used a product similar to our furniture strap picks, Safety 1st Furniture Wall Straps, which you can probably find on the shelf at Babies R Us, Buy Buy Baby, and elsewhere. They’re easy to install and they work well enough, but the mounting plates that connect to the furniture and the wall are both plastic. In comparison with Hangman and Quakehold gear, Harry said, this product is not as robust. “I should upgrade,” he noted.
We also suggest caution with any zip-tie system. While many appear to be effective (this professional childproofer uses them), some are little more than cheap electrician’s zip ties with a small clip on each end. As Colorado Childproofers writes, “the break strength of the Zip Tie may only be about 50 pounds – a 50 pound child with a drawer that is out about 2 feet will exert a force of 100 pounds on the strap.” Our staff members have seen zip ties included among the mounting hardware that accompanies some pieces of furniture; if you buy new furniture and find these included, we recommend an upgrade.
Colorado Childproofers also notes that tethering systems with plastic straps may require periodic tightening or replacement: “This is most likely due to solid nylon getting brittle over time, especially in warm, dry or high-ozone areas.” We believe the mount should start off secure and remain that way with no adjustment.
Regardless of which system you use, it’s imperative that you know what you’re screwing into, both on the furniture side and on the wall side. Many pieces of prefab furniture have thin backs attached by only a handful of staples, which can rip out if the piece starts to tip. As you may have noticed on the product page of the Hangman TK-400, the clip is not installed onto the back of the furniture but rather against the thicker top piece. Always look for a solid wood section of the furniture—either along the top, at the sides, or on a shelf or drawer divider—and mark that as your mounting point. And if the furniture is made of particle board, install the screw across the pressed layers, not in line with them.
On the wall side, it’s important to sink your screws into a stud (the vertical framing members). In most houses, these are typically 16 inches apart, and you can locate them with a reliable stud finder (we have more thoughts on stud finders here).
For the mounts on both the furniture side and the wall side, you’ll need to use proper basic drilling and driving techniques to ensure a solid connection for the hardware. Drilling a pilot hole allows for much better accuracy for screw placement and makes installing the screw easier. For proper drill-bit sizing, a rule of thumb is to select one that is the width of the screw minus the threads (most installation instructions will specify a bit size). If you’re drilling into the back of a piece of furniture and are worried about coming out the other side, wrap a piece of blue tape around the drill bit at the proper depth so that you know when to stop drilling. If your anti-tip kit of choice doesn’t come with mounting hardware and you’re buying your own screws, get screws with at least 1 inch of “grab” on the stud. With a typical wall consisting of ½-inch drywall, this means a minimum of a 1⅝-inch screw. Also, a coarse-thread screw will have a better grab than a fine-thread screw.
1. As this Consumer Reports article explains, the IKEA dressers were not up to these standards. Jump back.
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