FRANKLIN — Tonya Lowery preheat her oven to 425 degrees and put some garlic bread on a pan.
That’s when she heard it.
“Boom! It sounded like a gunshot,” said Lowery. “I’m like what in the world happened?”
The door on Lowery’s oven had suddenly shattered, sending glass all over her kitchen.
"My husband came running,” Lowery said. “He said ‘what in the world just happened?’ I said ‘honey our oven just exploded.’"
Lowery’s oven in a Frigidaire, purchased in 2019.
She called Frigidaire’s parent company, Electrolux.
"She told me it was no longer under warranty,” said Lowery. “They gave me three different numbers to call and said I would have to pay for that out of my pocket.”
Lowery contacted WRTV Investigates for help.
“I knew you would get something done," Lowery said.
WRTV Investigates searched U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) records and found hundreds of similar complaints about shattering oven doors.
A Richmond Indiana consumer reported this to CPSC about their Frigidaire oven:
“Oven was turned on to preheat and within 1 minute the front glass of the door exploded outward sending chards of glass 2 to 5 feet away from the stove."
A Madison Indiana homeowner also filed this complaint with CPSC about their Frigidaire oven:
"While warming up some leftovers in my oven at a relatively low temperature (300F), the outer glass on the oven door just exploded."
Some complaints indicated minor injuries including cuts and burns.
From 2019 to 2021, CPSC received about 450 reports of oven doors shattering. These complaints include all brands of ovens.
“I think there needs to be a recall,” Lowery said.
But getting a recall isn’t easy, according to Sean Kane of Safety Research and Strategies, a firm that researches safety issues with consumer products.
"The threshold is really variable,” said Kane. “It really comes down to risk and potential for injury to consumers."
Recalls can be costly for manufacturers, plus the federal government is tasked with regulating a lot of products, not just appliances.
"The Consumer Product Safety Commission is an extraordinarily small agency with a very small budget and they have regulatory authority over an enormous amount of consumer products,” Kane said.
Kane said it’s unclear why there hasn’t been a recall when it comes to shattering oven doors.
“It's hard to say why there hasn't been a recall,” Kane said. “Exposing your face and eyes to hot glass can certainly present a risk that is serious and that's something to consider."
WRTV Investigates reached out to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
“While CPSC has not issued recalls or warnings on shattering oven doors in recent years, we do take all incidents involving shattering glass seriously,” read a CPSC statement to WRTV. “No severe injuries (beyond stitches) were reported. CPSC recommends that consumers follow the manufacturer’s instructions and be careful not to bump or scratch the tempered glass in the oven door.”
They encourage consumers to report all safety related incidents involving glass doors to CPSC at www.SaferProducts.gov.
“Following review by CPSC staff, the report will be posted on our database for other consumers to see,” read the CPSC statement.
CPSC also emphasizes there are standards in place for consumer products that use glass which should lead to the glass breaking into nuggets and not shards.
WRTV Investigates also contacted Frigidaire’s parent company, which said failure in the glass is only covered under the manufacturer’s warranty within the first year of purchase.
FULL STATEMENT
Electrolux takes the safety of its products seriously. Although infrequent, glass used in oven doors may break. As a precaution and as required by household cooking standards UL 825 and ANSI Z21.1 with which Electrolux maintains certifications, the glass is designed to break into fragments with rounded edges if a failure does occur. This is in accordance with independent 3rd party certification agencies, Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and/or Underwriters’ Laboratories (UL), that require tempered or ‘safety’ glass is used in all Electrolux and Frigidaire ovens.
Within the first year of purchase, failure in the glass may be due to imperfections in the glass and would be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty. Following the first year of purchase, failure in the glass has been typically due to damage caused during use.
Frequently, damage to the glass is caused by using the door to push in the oven rack or by an object accidently hitting the interior or exterior glass. Both examples may cause a weakness that could lead to failure over time. Electrolux has, and will continue, to research and implement changes in materials, process and design to improve ranges. Owner’s manuals included with our ovens outline precautions recommended to protect the glass from weakening over time:
Special Door Care Instructions - Most oven doors contain glass that can break.
Read the following recommendations:
1. Do not close the oven door until all the oven racks are fully in place.
2. Do not hit the glass with pots, pans, or any other object.
3. Scratching, hitting, jarring or stressing the glass may weaken its structure causing an increased risk of breakage at a later time.
Tonya Lowery said she has never done anything to damage the glass.
“Never ever,” said Lowery.
Lowery cleaned up the pieces and got rid of the oven because she doesn’t feel safe with it in her home.
“You never know if it could happen again,” said Lowery.
Lowery bought a new oven, and said after WRTV Investigates got involved, Electrolux covered nearly the entire cost of the appliance.
“Huge shout out to Channel 6 news Kara Kenney,” wrote Lowery in a text to Kenney. “You’re the best.”
TIPS FOR CONSUMERS
- You can protect yourself by making sure you never bump or scratch your oven glass, and make sure the metal racks are pushed in all the way.
- Report safety issues to CPSC at www.SaferProducts.gov.
- Experts say if you have damage on your appliance, do not keep using it.
- Keep all of your records associated with the appliance, including any repairs.
- Also, thoroughly research before you buy any major appliances.
