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IKEA Unveils Anchor & Unlock Innovation for Stability with Patent
October 4,
2023 by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Industry 
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. The 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.
Customer safety is a top priority for IKEA. Based on the company’s vision to create a better everyday life for many people, IKEA maintains the commitment that no one should be harmed by a tip-over incident.
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.”
Recently, IKEA introduced GREÅKER, a cabinet with drawers. GREÅKER should always be anchored to the wall, and in addition its custom hinges allow the doors to only open at a certain angle to further enhance the cabinet's stability.
A patent pledge to enable collaboration
IKEA draws on 80 years' experience in life at home. Based on this knowledge, its research and development have led to a series of patented inventions in the field of clothing storage furniture stability.
“At IKEA, we are proud of our innovation, and we protect it with our patents. But in this case, we hope others will adopt Anchor and Unlock for their products as well” says Carl Ervér, patent manager at IKEA of Sweden. “For us at IKEA, clothing storage furniture stability is not a matter of competition but one of 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. IKEA strongly believes in collaboration and the patent pledge defines the requirements under which others can adopt the IKEA Anchor and Unlock innovation.
With 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.
IKEA aims to design and develop products that withstand the tough test of everyday life at home – and by that help make home a safer place. Please visit the Our view on product safety for more information.