Flat panel TVs at the heart of furniture accidents
Normally when we hear about children and flat panel displays not mixing, we think of "look with your eyes, not your hands" lessons spelled out in fingerprints on the TV. A recent study, however, has turned up an increased number of furniture-related accidents involving children and is pointing a finger right at flat panel displays. According to the study, almost half of the accidents reported involved a TV falling onto a child (we'd love to see what portion involved shoddy particle board furniture). That über-thin new set of yours is easy on the eyes, but don't be fooled -- with its narrow base and high center of gravity (or suspect mounting), it's a dangerous animal waiting to pounce on the little ones. All kidding aside, if you can't keep the kids from climbing the furniture and gadgets, at least make sure you set the TV up safely; or you could opt for a sturdy CRT-based RPTV or a ceiling mounted projector.[Via DigitalLanding]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gm @ May 19th 2009 7:07AM
Immediately after setting up our new plasma we attached it to the wall with a Safety 1st TV lock. It still allows me to turn the TV from side to side if I need to access the back of the TV or reposition it but it isn't going to tip over on the kids. Considering the size of these things, the expense of an anchor or locking device is a very small price to pay for piece of mind.
Chris D.(PSN: Aggie_CEO | XBL:The Aggie CEO | Steam: Aggie_CEO @ May 19th 2009 7:33AM
My kids use to run and push the old CRT TV I had on a TV Stand.....common sense told me to put ANY LCDTV I got on the wall and thats what I did. I know not everyone that gets an LCD has that option, but they should REALLY think about it if they have children or grandchildren. at the very least if you have it on a stand do like they do in Sears and Tie it to the wall
ack154 @ May 19th 2009 8:48AM
It's all fun and games until someone loses a $1500 TV.
Naylia @ May 19th 2009 9:53AM
Planning for kids in a year or two....justifying the fancy new AV cabinet with rear mounting for the LCD just got a whole lot easier :)
Lakeonaut @ May 19th 2009 11:12AM
My plasma came with a steel cable and a stern warning to use it.
Nick @ May 19th 2009 11:47AM
Simple solution: Jagged metal spikes surrounding the TV area. Sure, your kids will probably run into one and hurt themselves badly, but there won't be a second time, and you will be protecting our country's most precious natural resource: Flat Panel TVs.
steedums @ May 19th 2009 12:14PM
I find my ceiling mount front projector is quite ideal. Kids can't touch that at all... but my niece keeps making shadow puppets while I'm watching TV
NorthCranky @ May 19th 2009 2:07PM
FPs are the best. Small, light, and out of the way.
RPs are just child killers and a pain for everyone else that has to move them. To top it off the picture is tiny.
Joel @ May 19th 2009 2:09PM
I own a professional A/V installation company and it is sad to see that people do not take the time to at least read through manuals that always have warnings about this happening. Flat panel TV's really have little reason to not be mounted on a wall anyway, but shoddy furniture is as likely a culprit as well. I have been installing for 6+ years and we have never had a TV fall off of a wall, or if on furniture, fall over. We always warn our customers who decide not to mount their TV, to secure it or keep it as far back on the stand as possible. There are enough ways for children to hurt themselves in your homes already, don't let something this simply avoidable, cause injury to anyone.
Ironhide @ May 19th 2009 5:23PM
Fellow installer here. Never had an issue either, but basically it's all about kids hanging off the top. That's why Sony had straps attaching the Grand Wegas and bolt holes for the bases on their LCD tvs on a stand. A poorly constructed stand can be a culprit, but really, the simplest solution is to train to kids not to touch the damn things.
Ironhide @ May 19th 2009 5:26PM
To me if a wall mount can't take me hanging off of it for a few moments, then it's a really crappy quality wall mount. Anything by Sanus is built damn well, so if the price is the hurdle, ask yourself whether or not replacing your tv is worth spending the extra 100$ or so.
j.pickens @ May 19th 2009 10:45PM
Sturdy standard wall mounts are all well and good.
However, you really need to cut away some drywall to make sure your lag bolts are centered in the wall studs. Digital stud finders can easily be off by 3/4", and on a 2" wide stud, which is really 1 5/8" wide, that kind of error makes for a potentially deadly wall mount failure.
JBDragon @ May 20th 2009 2:13AM
Mounting on the wall wasn't a option for me, but a nice heavy HDTV stand with a built in HDTV Swivel mount. So I'm not using my HDTV's stand, it's mounted in the air higher which I like as it's better eye level, and a kid could grab the top and hang on it if they wanted and it would never fall over, not that, that would ever happen, but it's solid and locked on. It'll turn Left and right, not a lot, but enough.
I have seen pictures of like heavy duty HDTV stands with Glass Shelfs that the weight limit should have easily not been a problem, and yet with no one around, just shatter into pieces. I saw the picture and the display dropped straight down and didn't hurt the HDTV, but pieces of glass in the hardware that was down below. So watch out for that also.
If I had small kids around and my HDTV was just sitting on a stand with it's own mount, I'd have a safety cable mounted onto the back of it for sure. Tall and Narrow, be it a HDTV, or a bookcase, whatever can and do tip over.
Tom @ May 20th 2009 1:50PM
Read the article.
Alex Johnson uses a graphic example of a *CRT* falling on a little girl. Not a flat panel. A CRT. I'm not saying it can't happen - my 42 in plasma is screwed to the TV stand it sits on. But there is no link in the article between flat panels and injuries, just the aforementioned illustration of what happens when a CRT falls on a little person.
There were no flat panel TVs in 1990, or am I the only one that remembers that? Sorry, Sharp had a 13 inch that was wall mountable. I'm sure it wrecked horrible carnage in it's day.
In fact, you'd have to travel through time about 10 years to start seeing any appreciable flat panel TV statistics.
Alex's article says more about the proliferation of CRT TVs and the damage they can cause, than of flat panel statistics, which are mentioned *nowhere* in the article.
In fact, I know less about the issue now than BEFORE reading the article.
Although, I suppose that had the article been titled "Falling Obsolete CRT TVs a Growing but Soon to Diminish Threat to Kids" would simply have confused people.
BeholdersEye @ May 23rd 2009 7:15AM
This is a simple solution - a braket to stable the top of the screen to the wall or screwing the base to the tv stand. This is the same thing you suppose to do with a book shelves - screw it to the wall.