IKEA Announces Patent Pledge for Anchor and Unlock, a New Tip-Over Safety Innovation

Furniture World News Desk on 10/6/2023

With its first patent pledge and based on the desire to help make life at home safer for the many, IKEA shares its Anchor and Unlock innovation for others to use. VIHALS chest of drawers is the first globally sold product with Anchor and Unlock – a stability feature to help reduce the risk of furniture tip-overs and a proof point to the IKEA innovations journey on clothing storage furniture stability. 

The Anchor and Unlock stability innovation

IKEA believes the safest way in any context is to anchor clothing storage furniture to the wall. The Anchor and Unlock feature works as an incentive for customers to secure their chests or dressers: Only when attached to a wall the unlock mechanism is enabled and multiple drawers of a chest can be opened simultaneously. Before the furniture is anchored, only a limited number of drawers can be used at a time. IKEA believes the Anchor and Unlock feature has the potential to reduce the tip-over risk as well as contribute to an understanding that chests of drawers may tip over if not anchored to a wall.

The first globally available IKEA products that include Anchor and Unlock are VIHALS chests of drawers. IKEA customers can choose between three different versions, a 4-drawer chest, and two 6-drawer dressers. The chests and dressers are part of the overall VIHALS storage solutions – products from this series can easily be combined for a cohesive look throughout the home.

“VIHALS is one product, with one specific solution – more will come. Within the coming years, we will continue to develop products with innovative stability features for our customers globally” says Marie Klaesson, Manager for Range Area Bedroom Furniture at IKEA of Sweden. “The solution will not be the same for each product, different features and new innovations will be built into new pieces of furniture.” 

A patent pledge to enable collaboration 

IKEA has the ambition to influence change in the furniture industry, to reduce tip-over incidents and support people to live a safer life at home. The patent pledge defines the requirements under which others can adopt the IKEA Anchor and Unlock innovation. By making this pledge IKEA hopes to encourage other furniture manufacturers to consider this approach as well. Please visit the patent pledge page on IKEA.com for detailed information.

About IKEA U.S.
At IKEA, the vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people by offering well-designed, functional and affordable, high-quality home furnishing, produced with care for people and the environment. Ingka Group (Ingka Holding B.V. and its controlled entities) is one of 12 different groups of companies that own and operate IKEA retail under franchise agreements with Inter IKEA Systems B.V. Ingka Group has three business areas: IKEA Retail, Ingka Investments and Ingka Centres. Ingka Group is a strategic partner in the IKEA franchise system, operating 389 IKEA stores in 32 countries — including 52 retail locations in the U.S.

For more information on IKEA U.S., see IKEA-USA.com, @IKEAUSANews, @IKEAUSA or IKEAUSA on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest.