Over the past two years, we have received reports of GE microwave oven glass
doors spontaneously exploding - just like the conventional oven doors.
Consumer descriptions of what happened [and GE's response] is consistent. But
just when we thought we had seen it all, up pops a story like the one we're
about to share with you.
North Texas Woman: Never-Used Microwave Explodes
Bennett Cunningham, Reporting
(CBS 11 News) DALLAS Most people
believe a brand new microwave wouldn't explode . . . or would it? CBS 11 News
consumer reporter Bennett Cunningham didn't know it was possible until he met
Winona Smith and saw the scars on her arms.
According to Mrs. Smith, her
General Electric Microwave was
three days old and had never been used
[emphasis ours].
The 79-year-old says she was in
the kitchen, stirring a pot of green beans on her stove, when the glass door
spontaneously shattered - blowing flying glass across the room.
The explosion was so loud Smith
says it left her “stone deaf” and her arms bleeding.
According to Smith, a lab
analysis shows the sound of the explosion was more than 130 decibels - that's as
loud as a jet engine. The entire episode makes Smith so nervous that for a long
time she wouldn’t go into the kitchen. During the CBS 11 [interview], she became
visibly nervous when she got near the stove.
GE representatives say Smith’s
microwave was manufactured by LG electronics for General Electric - GE model
#JVM1631-BJ01.
According to GE, what happened
to Smith is rare but does happen. GE states this is the 4th report of glass
spontaneously exploding in that particular model. The company says Smith is the
first person to report an injury.
GE states it's sold 770,000 of
the microwaves. Smith is now suing GE in federal court for allegedly selling her
a defective microwave with defective glass. In its answer to the lawsuit,
GE blames Smith [emphasis ours], for
misusing the microwave - but remember, Smith says the microwave wasn't even
turned on when the glass exploded.
"[On the] Holy Bible I swear.
It happened and I don't know why," Smith said. "I did not touch it and it had
never been cooked it."
Glass spontaneously exploding
isn’t unusual. Bill Lingnell, an engineer for nearly 40 years, is a glass
expert.
According to Lingnell the
energy stored inside microwave glass, to make it strong, is so great that
stresses in installation or production can cause it to explode at a later date.
"After time, it might get a
little bit tired of holding that [energy], and then it would release some energy
in there," said glass expert Bill Lingnell. "That would cause it to fracture and
give the illusion of possibly an explosion."
CBS 11 News has learned that
since 2002, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports
35 incidents [emphasis ours] of microwave
glass spontaneously exploding - with
five reported injuries [emphasis ours]. By
law the commission cannot release information on the brands involved until it
first talks to the manufacturer.
On September 21, 2006 we received the
following message from Russ D., a homeowner in Maryland:
"Moved into
new home 8/28/06. On 9/3/06 we used the top oven of the double oven to a
temperature of 425 degrees. While it was cooling, we heard a loud pop and the
sound of breaking glass. We discovered the inside glass shattered and sprayed
inside the oven. On 9/13/06, while using the bottom oven, the exact same
sequence of events occurred except the shattered glass remained intact. GE
repair has been contacted and the needed parts are on backorder. Current
projected repair date is 10/5/06."
In response, we asked Russ to file a formal report to Underwriters
Laboratories, since our own efforts to enlist their interest was not progressing
as well as we had hoped. UL sent this response:
Dear Mr.
Davis,
Thank
you for sharing your experience with the subject product. Glass oven doors
shattering is not a common occurrence, but one which we are familiar with. The
glass failures are not specific to this manufacturer, but consistent through
industry.
Our
findings indicate that the cause for such failures are often times related to
minor imperfections (scratches, voids, etc) in the glass during the
manufacturing process or as a result of the handling techniques during
transport/installation/usage.
The
glass is designed to fail in a safe manner and is scrutinized to the American
National Standard Institute Z97.1-1984. The failure you have described is
consistent with the desired breakage characteristics described in the
aforementioned Standard. As such, this is being treated as a safe failure. Since
the product did malfunction however, we urge you to bring this to the attention
of the manufacturer.
Thank
you for your cooperation with this matter.
Technical Review Team
Field Report Department
Underwriters Laboratories Inc
I'm not sure
which is worse: that the so-called 'Standard' allows for these glass failures,
or that they are classified as "safe failures". Somehow I doubt very
much if Mrs. Smith [the lady in the video] considers the explosion of her
microwave oven glass as a "safe failure". I know that I never considered
using the word "safe" when I saw my legs covered in blood as a result of my
oven door exploding while I was standing at my stove!
June 22, 2007
Cowardice asks: Is it safe?
Expediency asks: Is it
politic?
But Conscience asks: Is it
right?
William Punshon
(1824–1881)
Wesleyan Methodist Minister
Family of Deployed National
Guardsman:
What Is Wrong With This Picture?
We are noticing a disturbing trend in
the communications we receive from our website. Families of deployed
military [already dealing with the stress of a husband, wife, mother, father,
son, or daughter serving in the war] having to deal with GE's defective
appliances. When they contact GE for help, they're treated just as
callously as the rest of us.
Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse
the privilege.
- Author Unknown
GE Recalls Monogram Professional Gas
Ranges for the Second Time in 18 Months!
It's been two weeks since we
discovered information about GE's newest recall and the news has barely
registered a blip in the media. Even
Appliance Magazine [an industry
periodical] has failed to mention this newest recall.
In December 2005,
GE recalled their Monogram™ 36 and 48
inch Professional Gas Ranges because they posed a fire hazard. The recall
involved almost 7,000 appliances because they were manufactured with a design
flaw that could cause an electrical arc between the wiring and adjacent gas
supply tubes at two locations in the control housing of the range, posing a fire
hazard. GE had received reports of six incidents of fire in the control area of
these ranges, but claimed no injuries or property damage was reported.
When we first addressed the issue
of GE's defective refrigerators in 2005, our learning curve was steep - straight
up actually. But after two years, we confidently declare, "We're
smarter than we look!"
General Electric Recalls Dishwashers
Due to Fire Hazard.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission, announced a recall today of 2.5 million General Electric
dishwashers. The recall includes GE built-in dishwashers manufactured and sold
at department and appliance stores from September 1997 through December 2001 for
about $400.
June 17, 2007