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Revealed: the home appliances more prone to catching fire

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Which? reveals that thousands of fires have been caused by faulty household appliances. Washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers pose the biggest risk of fire in our homes.

Having obtained the latest government figures for domestic fire incidents in Great Britain through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, we found that nearly 12,000 fires were caused by a faulty household appliance between January 2011 and March 2014. When we compared the figures to our market intelligence for brands’ market share, we also found that some brands appeared more prone to catching fire than others.

175 Hoover washing machines caught fire – 12% of the total number of washing machine fires in which the brand was recorded. We think that Hoover’s market share is probably smaller than 12% – and that its number of washing machine fires is disproportionately high.

Hotpoint – one of the largest appliance brands – accounted for 34% (349) of the tumble dryer fires recorded and 38% (410) of dishwasher fires – again this relates to fires in which the brand was recorded. While it’s possible that Hotpoint accounts for as much as a third of the tumble dryer market, its share of the dishwasher market is likely to be less than 38%, suggesting that the number of Hotpoint dishwasher fires is higher than expected.

Manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that the products we buy are safe and, where a problem is found, to take steps to address the risk. If an appliance is found to be dangerous, manufacturers issue a safety notice to alert owners, but knowing who owns their products can prove problematic.

Hotpoint and Indesit estimate that 279,000 of the dishwashers they have recalled have not been repaired and could potentially still be in peoples’ homes – it has fixed 76,387 so far.

Research carried out by Electrical Safety First (ESF) has found that only around a third of UK consumers register appliances. The Association of Manufacturers of Domestic Appliances (AMDEA) has launched a website (registermyappliance.org.uk) where you can register appliances for around 85% of UK brands. Which? welcomes this scheme, but feels that a key barrier to registration is consumers’ concern that personal details could be used for marketing purposes.

We registered 10 fridge-freezers and found that six out of 10 brands required those registering to opt-out of any marketing from the manufacturer, and five of these also required users to opt out of receiving marketing from third parties.

Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said:

“It’s shocking that everyday household appliances can pose such a danger. More needs to be done to protect consumers from this risk and it’s crucial that products known to be dangerous are recalled as quickly as possible.”

“Owners should also be reassured they can register their appliance without inadvertently signing up for marketing. We want fire data to be monitored and shared with manufacturers and local authorities, allowing them to act quickly in the event of a recall. Our findings will be submitted to the Government’s product recall review currently underway and we look forward to hearing its recommendations.”

For more details on this story, please visit: www.which.co.uk/appliancefires

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