One of our Trippevals blinds exploded last night. Fortunately the spring hit the window frame,not the window or the TV screen on the opposite side. It took out a chunk of our newly finished window frame. I am really grateful no one happened to be sitting on the sofa beside it, as the plastic hook flew in the other direction and would definitely have caused injury.
A quick search online has a few discussions about exploding springs from these blinds.
We have had these for 2 years, now and I am quite concerned about the balance of the blinds doing the same thing. This is a very dangerous design!
A costly mistake, as it is doubtful Ikea will replace this blind and I am concerned that this will repeat on all the other blinds in our family room. About 7 metres of windows currently being covered.
The spring, which is reasonably heavy duty, is held by two plastic clips on either side. The clips are the thing that fail, as ultimately it is doubtful that the plastic would be able to sustain that sort of tension, long term. Ikea should definitely re-engineer this product. It is currently unsafe.
Thanks for the report. I cannot find an image that shows the springs well enough to tell, but while trying to sort them would nylon tie wraps be possible to add to the ends of the springs to reinforce as a fail safe should/when another plastic bit breaks?
It seems a safety issue that should be reported to both Ikea and
This gives you an idea of where they attach. The blank space, circled, is where the other plastic attachment hook was. It shattered off.
We went to Ikea Perth and they gave us a credit for this blind, but we are concerned about the others, now.
If you are stuck with them then to save debris escaping if another fails run a strip of gaffer tape along the top of the channel to hold the bits in. If it is no wider than the channel it will not be visible from the room.
Thanks for that, but those ‘after’ photos do not show what the assembly looks like ‘before’, which would be the crux of being able to put in some homemade ‘fail safes’.
The assembly would need a way to anchor or thread a tie wrap to or around the spring and to the frame, all without impeding how the spring needs to move for normal operation. Depending on how it ‘explodes’ another thought is an internal ‘shatter shield’ (eg a covering/plate/rubber sleeve) strong enough to keep an ‘exploded spring’ inside.
Ikea have responded, and I am pretty happy with their response.
*Thank you for sending the photos and confirming the incident. We hope that you will not have further issues with the rest of the blinds. *
I can confirm the product you returned on 5/8/23 was 40336901 TRIPPEVALS blck-out cllulr blnd 80x195 lgrey AP.
As previously advised, we have now created a safety alarm to investigate the incident that you have reported to us with our global safety team and supplier.
We appreciate you taking the time to provide the feedback.
If you have further questions, please feel free to reach out to us.
Thanks for the suggestion, @syncretic , but considering the force propelled the blind out of the window, approximately a metre, and the blind was recessed into the frame, I am not sure that duct tape would be enough.
We hope the others don’t follow suit, but we are looking at adding a modifies aluminum top, which we will rivet on.
Goodness! How did the blind get out the window? How did it get off the brackets?
According to the installation instructions the open side of the channel that holds the mechanism is to the top, that is it would be under the window reveal or pelmet. I am having trouble picturing what happened and how the bits escaped.
One illustration in the IKEA assembly instructions demonstrates installing the blind on the inside face of the window frame/reveal or wall if a flush finish inside. No pelmet required if one chooses not to. This leaves the top of the frame open towards the ceiling. Solves one problem of varying window widths for blinds that cannot be trimmed to suit. Also blocks light and peepers around the sides as for mounting inside the framing - reveal.
The tension spring is shown in one of the pics. Unfortunate there is no pic of the blind hanging as it did after the failure.
@isellev After the failure was the top metal frame of the blind still secured in the two wall mounting brackets at the top of the window? Which part of the blind was 1m outside the window?
it does not face the ceiling and I don’t see how bits would escape easily. I thought from the description from the OP it was the latter but perhaps I am wrong.
I also expect it was mounted inside the reveal having read,
And then read,
Leaving me wondering about the need if it was installed in a fully recessed position.
I was wondering also if @isellev might provide some links given:
Looking for the failure as an exploding Ikea trippevals blind/spring might not be the best search term. There is some content on IKEA Hoppvals blinds from OS which appear to have a similar mechanism. The comments relate mostly to the inconvenience of the failures outside of the base warranty period or the blind mechanism jamming.
It is the latter pic. The force of the release of the tensioned spring jerked the entire blind off the clip holdings. The upwards force smashed it into the window frame above and it then ricocheted into the side of the frame.
Tensioned springs hold a good deal of force and they can create quite a spectacle. I used to be an occupational health nurse and have seen some not insignificant injuries as a result of the sudden release of a tensioned spring.
This is a concern for the remaining blinds, but I am willing to chance it, at this stage. The blinds are quite effective insulators. And it would be costly to replace the ones that have not broken.
Ikea surprised us by giving a credit for the blind (not the full amount, but as they have been in use for a while, a $15.00 usage seems a fair deal).
We tend to only use these blinds in winter. In summer, external blinds reduce heat load, during the day and we don’t have to use the blinds as a privacy cover, as they are not public facing.
Thanks for that info.
Did the failure occur when trying to raise or lower the blind or … of its own accord?
Noted $70 for a 60cm width and $119 for 120cm width version per IKEA Website today.
Not the most expensive of products. It’s open to discuss if your approx 2 years+ without failure would satisfy ACL (Australian Consumer Law). Is the product fit for purpose and durable (how long a reasonable person might expect it to last) given the price?
It’s good to hear how IKEA has responded to your concerns and in making a near total refund. It would be disappointing to hear if you or others in the community experience more failures in the same way.
IKEA also list the Hoppvals blinds which appear to have a similar mechanism, at least per details from OS forums…
