Consumer Reports tests reveal mixed results for furniture anchor sets

Every year, thousands of people are injured by falling furniture, and over the last twenty years, hundreds of children have died when furniture falls over.

Safety advocates recommend installing furniture anchors on dressers, TV stands and bookcases, but new tests shows that some wall mounting kits don’t work as well as others.

Consumer Reports recently built 90 wall units to test 14 different anchor kits, some of which are sold with dressers and some of which are sold separately.

During testing, researchers added force to see how much weight the anchor sets could support before they came loose.

“Of the nine products we tested that were designed to work in drywall and without studs, only three could withstand a force of 60 pounds, simulating the weight of a child, which was very concerning,” said Gabe Knight, senior safety analyst at Consumer Reports.

There are some good options; you don’t have to buy the most expensive brand to get an effective anchor kit.

Consumer Reports reports that the easy-to-install anti-tilt furniture kit scored best in its wood dowel tests. Booda furniture anchors are a good budget option. When it comes to metal stakes, Consumer Reports’ top pick is QuakeHOLD! Furniture securing straps.

“We have generally found that metal or nylon strap components are stronger than plastic straps, and peel-and-stick kits tend to perform the worst,” Knight told On Your Side. “Many anchor kits performed very well when drilled into a stud, but failed easily when glued to blank drywall.”

For the best protection, anchor in a stud whenever possible, and Consumer Reports recommends anchoring all furniture in two places.

Check out U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s “Anchor It” campaign for more tips

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