1.7M Maytag Dishwashers Recalled over Fire Risk

Lance Armstrong competes in the Ironman Panama 70.3. triathlon in Panama City, Sunday Feb. 12, 2012. The race consists of a 1.2-mile swim, a 56-mile bike ride and a 13.1-mile run. / AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco

Whirlpool Corp.'s Maytag unit is recalling about 1.7 million dishwashers because of a fire hazard.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, which announced the recall Thursday, says the company, part of Whirlpool Corp., has received 12 reports of electrical failures in the dishwasher heating element that led to fires and damage.

One kitchen fire caused extensive damage, the agency said. No injuries have been reported.

The recall includes Maytag, Amana, Jenn-Air, Admiral, Magic Chef, Performa by Maytag and Crosley brand dishwashers with plastic tubs. The recalled dishwashers were made with black, bisque, white, silver and stainless steel front panels and sold at department and appliance stores nationwide from February 2006 through April 2010. They cost between $250 and $900.

CPSC advises consumers to immediately stop using the recalled dishwashers and disconnect the electric supply by shutting off the fuse or circuit breaker controlling it.

Consumers can schedule a free in-home repair or receive a rebate of $150 or $250 toward the purchase of select new Maytag dishwashers. The amount of the rebate depends on the type of model to be purchased.

A company spokeswoman says Whirlpool set aside $75 million to cover the costs of the recall.

More information on the numerous serial numbers involved in the recall can be found at the company's website or the website for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The recall is Maytag's second of more than a million major appliances in a little more than a year. It recalled 1.6 million refrigerators because of fire risks in March 2009.

Whirlpool, based in Benton Harbor, Mich., bought Maytag in March 2006 in a $1.8 billion deal.

[obicera1]

The only clue to the cause the of the fires is due to a plastic tub near a heating element and some sort of electrical fault. That sounds like poor design, and has nothing to do with where they were manufactured or by whom. If it was quality control issues then the recall would have been smaller and limited to a certain factory, and that isn't what this sounds like.

[thechooch1]

My earlier Maytag was recalled for a fire hazard. It became a goat rope! I had a choice of $100 or they would fix the problem. I made the mistake of having them fix it. I went online and logged in to the recall and put down which option I wanted, a fix. They wanted me to immediately stop using he dishwasher and turn off the breaker. Several weeks passed and no part. Called and was told the online site wasn't working! Gave them my info, and scheduled the repair man, he came, no part. They were supposed to send the part to me! He called, and was told the part would be at my door in a couple of days. He came back and the wrong part was shipped! Finally got my dishwasher back! Their fix? Disable the dishwasher rinse agent! So if you have an option, take the money and RUN!

[pragmatist1]

Whirlpool/Maytag has had a recent history of recalls over fire hazards for their dishwashers. I find it ironic that there are more and more recalls of manufactured goods and more than likely can be traced back to when fabrication of components and even assemblage began being out-sourced by manufacturers to countries with low standards and poorly educated workers. Why isn't the government looking into this?

[tsigili]

In all likelihood, these were NOT made in the US. Or, like most companies today, they were cutting costs to boost profits.....and ignoring the quality of their products.

Global Corporations have become totally corrupt with greed and their CEO's are the most corrupt of all, as they deliberately manipulate stock values, to personally cash in.

[book_of_wally]

Ever buy anything from Harbor Freight? What a joke that place is.

[roach9703]

Too much taco sauce in the machines, eh?

[book_of_wally]

Oh joy, the Maytag repairman will be lonely no more! :)

[wyodutch]

So what if they do catch fire... Since they closed the American factory and started making Maytags in Mexico, the profit margin is much higher. Ole'!!!
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December 29, 2004: Galesburg, Illinois - Many Americans dream of getting rich. Aaron Kemp had more modest ambitions. "I wanted to work at a decent job and earn a decent wage, with decent benefits, so I can raise my kids, give them a decent education and maybe take them out to Pizza Hut on a Friday night. I don't need a Mercedes, just a ho-hum existence, and now," he says, with sadness and anger in his voice, "it seems hard to even do that."
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Eight years ago, Kemp began working at the factory of Maytag Corporation, the largest employer in Galesburg, a western Illinois town of 34,000 and the birthplace of poet Carl Sandburg. In September, Maytag finally closed the plant, after sending a large part of the work that 1,600 people had recently been performing to a new Maytag factory in Reynosa, Mexico; another large part to Daewoo, a Korean multinational subcontractor that is expected to build a plant in Mexico; and a few dozen jobs to a plant in Iowa. Now Kemp, a 31-year-old union safety and education official with a muscular build and a small goatee, has a temporary job as a counselor to laid-off workers at two-thirds his old pay."