Defective Products: Do You Have a "Killer Stove"?
Posted by
Laura BlattMay 21, 2007 9:50 PM"Killer stoves" have caused the deaths of 33 people and injured at least 84 others from 1980 through 2006, according to Public Citizen and the Consumer Federation of America. The groups are referring to freestanding kitchen ranges that can easily topple over, crushing their victims or causing burns from spilled hot foods.
Manufacturers began using lighter, cheaper materials in freestanding stoves beginning in the 1980s. As a result, the stoves are unstable when too much weight is applied to the oven door. Unfortunately, these defective products now reside in millions of households.
Voluntary safety standards were adopted in 1991, including the use of special L-shaped brackets to anchor down the stoves. However, consumer groups say that the anti-tipping brackets are installed only in a small minority of cases. They point to Sears, which sells about 800,000 stoves per year, as a major culprit. They also charge that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) knew about the hazard since the mid-1980s, but did nothing to warn consumers.
The sad fact is that most of the tipping incidents involve the most vulnerable in our population--small children and the elderly. They need our protection. At the very least, the CPSC should warn consumers about the problem and make the safety brackets mandatory for freestanding stoves. Even better, the stove companies should be required to go back to the drawing board and redesign a kitchen range that is safe.