Whirlpool agrees to $11.5M fine over electric cooktop defect reporting

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Whirlpool cooktop fine overview: 

• Who: Whirlpool Corp. has agreed to pay $11.5 million in civil penalties to resolve claims brought against it by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). 
• Why: The settlement ends claims Whirlpool ignored numerous reports of its cooktops turning themselves on and starting house fires. 
• Where: Nationwide. 

Whirlpool Corp. has agreed to pay $11.5 million in civil penalties to resolve claims the home appliance company ignored numerous reports of its cooktops turning on on their own and starting house fires. 

The settlement agreement was announced last week by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which voted 4-0 to approve the deal. 

The CPSC claimed Whirlpool had failed to notify the agency in a timely manner that 17 models of the company’s name brand, KitchenAid, and JennAir brand electric cooktops could turn on by themselves and catch fire, endangering consumers. 

“Our action sends a loud and clear warning to companies who continue to sell dangerous products despite knowing that they can cause serious injury or death,” CPSC Chair Alexander Hoehn-Saric said, in a statement. 

As part of the settlement, Whirlpool will have to maintain internal controls and procedures that are designed to ensure compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act, according to the CPSC. 

Whirlpool did not immediately report to CPSC that its cooktops could create a ‘substantial product hazard,’ says commission

The commission argued Whirlpool of “possessing information that reasonably supported the conclusion that the cooktops contained a defect that could create a substantial product hazard or created an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death.” 

Despite this, the CPSC argued Whirlpool chose not to immediately report this fact to the agency, allegedly waiting until 157 reports of the cooktops turning on by themselves occurred before filing an initial report. 

“American consumers should never have to worry that products in their homes will turn on without warning and ignite a fire. To avoid that, companies have to report to CPSC immediately when they know of such risks,” said CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka, in a statement. 

The CPSC and Whirlpool initiated a joint recall in August 2019 for more than 200,000 of the company’s cooktops that were manufactured between 2016 and July 2019, according to the CPSC. 

Whirlpool maintains that it did not fail to notify the CPSC in a timely manner about the cooktop issues, but said it chose to settle the claims to avoid costly litigation proceedings, reports Law360. 

In 2019, a class action lawsuit was filed against Whirlpool over claims the company should provide consumers who were impacted by the cooktop recall should be entitled to monetary compensation. 

Were you impacted by the 2019 Whirlpool cooktop recall? Let us know in the comments!

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