A Vancouver woman is sounding the alarm about a popular glass desk sold by IKEA that could pose a safety risk.
Kamal Arora says she was sleeping when she was jolted awake by a noise like a gun shot. She walked into her living room to find her IKEA glass desk had shattered into thousands of pieces, sending shards of glass throughout her apartment.
Arora says glass was everywhere and she cut her feet running into the living room. But she says she’s glad she wasn’t sitting at her desk when it exploded.
"I definitely would have been seriously injured, and I think I would have had some major lacerations and cuts to my face and my arms and body," said Arora.
The case is not an isolated incident. An Ottawa’s woman’s IKEA desk also exploded in the middle of the night, sending glass flying through her bedroom.
It also happened to a family in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Their IKEA glass top desk shattered when no one was home.
A quick search of the Internet uncovers several complaints about exploding IKEA glass top desks and tables.
So what is causing these table tops to explode? The safety treatment that makes tempered glass break into chunks instead of shards can also, in rare cases, create a flaw that makes it prone to suddenly shatter.
IKEA admits tempered glass can implode in rare instances, but insists the problem is not isolated to IKEA products. Store officials say consumers need to understand that tempered glass is fragile, and needs to be handled with care.
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with our tempered glass table tops. We exceed the global standards on safety and we stand behind our products," said Madeleine Lowenborg-Frick, IKEA spokesperson.
“I wish I had known that this sort of thing would have happened before I purchased the desk, because I never would have,” said Arora.
IKEA has agreed to pay Arora’s cleanup costs. It’s also agreed to give her a new desk of equal value. Arora says she will not be buying another glass topped desk in the future.
