Since January consumers have consistently reported fires caused by their microwave ovens, in particular ovens made by Emerson. The complaints continue to roll in.
How they voted
Yes
Yes
"The (Emerson) MWC9115SL microwave nearly burnt down my home and business when it caught on fire," Shaun, of Monett, Mo., reported last week in a ConsumerAffairs post. "I contacted Emerson by email and phone, and finally got a supervisor to agree to pay for the return shipping so they could look at the microwave, and then refund my money. Today, I got by FedEx a brand new MWC9115SL microwave, the exact model that nearly destroyed my home."
Shaun writes that he has found over 300 complaints online about this problem.
"My six-month old microwave, the red one, caught on fire, burned the food and nearly my house," K., of Moore, Okla., reports to ConsumerAffairs.
Michael, of Lawson, Mo., is a concerned father who last week got a disturbing phone call from his daughter, telling her parents the Emerson microwave they bought for her a year ago turned on by itself while she was asleep and caught fire.
Nighttime fire
"It was the crackling and smoke that awoke her," Michael write. "She doused it out with baking powder. If she hadn't been home, her apartment may have caught fire. After reading many of the other reviews, I'm not surprised. We'll buy her a GE microwave like the one we have which has worked perfectly."
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) does not comment on ongoing investigations. Still, consumers who experience a fire issue with their microwave should file a report with the CPSC here.Â
A similar report should also be filed with the company. The more reports that are received about a safety issue, the faster it is likely to be addressed.
In the meantime, consumers should not try to repair a faulty microwave oven themselves. Small appliance repair experts say microwaves retain lethal amounts of electricity, even when they are unplugged.
Not just Emerson
Emerson is not the only brand with reports of fire problems, as this TV news report shows: