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A design defect in Samsung refrigerators causes the coils to freeze over, leaving the refrigerator unable to remain cold enough to keep food from spoiling, according to a class action lawsuit filed in New Jersey. The lawsuit estimates thousands of U.S. consumers have purchased the defective refrigerators since 2005, and that consumers have suffered hundreds of dollar in damages from lost groceries and repairs caused by the alleged defect.
According to the Samsung refrigerator class action lawsuit, “The refrigerators are designed and manufactured with heated coils that are intended to prevent excess frost from developing in the back of the machine. Instead of preventing frost, however, the coils allow frost and ice to build up in the refrigerators until the ice clogs and/or disables the machine’s fans, making it impossible for the fans to work to keep the machine cool.”
The alleged defect not only renders the refrigerators unusable, but also poses a safety risk to consumers because it leads to food spoilage and the risk of food-borne illnesses. Further enhancing consumers’ risk of illness is the fact that many of the refrigerators falsely display on the exterior temperature reader that the inside of the fridge is at a standard cool temperature.
The class action lawsuit alleges the defect exists in all three varieties of refrigerators Samsung manufactures, including its French door, side-by-side and bottom freezer varieties, and the model numbers:
- RF266AASH
- RS263BBWP
- RB1955SH
- RS2533SW
- RS267LASH
- RS267TDRS
- RS2630WW
The lawsuit further charges that “Samsung sold and serviced the refrigerators even though it knew, or was reckless in not knowing, that the refrigerators were defectively designed, would fail prematurely, and would ultimately result in [class members’] inability to use their refrigerators for their intended purpose.”
This is the second class action lawsuit filed in two months over defective refrigerators causing food spoilage. A class action lawsuit filed in July alleges LG’s French door refrigerator models contain a defect that causes the interior light to stay on after the doors are closed, resulting in overheating, food spoilage, melted plastic and fire hazard.
The Samsung refrigerator class action lawsuit is seeking damages, restitution and other awards for class members. A copy of the lawsuit can be read here.
UPDATE: On September 3, 2015, the Samsung refrigerator class action lawsuit was dismissed.
855 thoughts onSamsung Refrigerator Class Action Lawsuit
A year and a half ago I purchased Samsung Model #RF197ACRS. A few months ago I started hearing popping and crackling and found ice build up in the back of the refridgerator section and water pooling beneath the vegetable bins. A few days before July 4th my fridge stopped cooling, all food was spoiled. Especially for a $2100 appliance this is completely unnacceptable! Samsung must be held accountable to all of us that clearly have purchased a known lemon appliance. What do I need to do to join this CAL?
I purchased my Samsung Model #197ACRS April 2015. It came with a one year warranty and I purchased the two year extended warranty. I have had the service man to my house 3 times, two for the freeze up problem and one for a broken door spring. Its now June 2015 and I have the freeze up problem again and no warranty or service contract. Samsung should have to stand behind their products like car manufactures do and have to recall and replace their refrigerators if they cannot fix their problem. What do I need to do to join the CAL?
Please add me to your lawsuit. I have the exact same problem with the refrigerator side not cooling. Model#RS263TDBP. I paid $1438.41 for something that was supposed to be good quality. That is a lot of money to just throw away.
I am also having the same issues on my 3 yr old unit, top fr doors back panel completely icing over and freezing up…PLEASE ADD ME to CAL is not too late.
Technician advised to manually defrost unit for 24hrs every couple months to avoid complete overhaul. So every 2 months I have to drive to someones house and store my food until the refridgerator has defrosted then wait till its cold and return my food. WHAT!!
this is definetly not a permanent fix, just a bandaid for a problem that needs to be addressed by Samsung.
These are very expensive units and this is unacceptable. Completely faulty manufacturing and Samsung should be held accountable.
Angela June 21, 2013 at 9:34 am
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Our Samsung refrigerator is also defective and I would like to join the CAL. After a year of owning it the ice maker stopped working completely. Just refused to make ice. We had it serviced and it was discovered that the coils were all frozen through. The fridge was emptied and thawed to attempt to fix the problem. But when turned on the coils just froze up again. Now after 3 years of purchasing the unit, the refrigerator side refuses to maintain a cold temperature. The display panel keeps creeping up to 60 degrees and nothing in the fridge is chilled properly. you can imagine we have lost a ton of food due to spoilage.
We have exactly the same problem. The Regional Factory parts and Service in Ottawa is the company assigned to repair for Samsung . Since December 14 , 2014 after 10 visits where they replaced the whole ice cube maker unit which cost us over $560. No success and the ice maker is still NOT working. They want to keep charging us to come back.and try to fix the problem. Terrible mistake to buy Samsung.
Purchased Samsung RF263AEWP on 10/08/2010 with 4 year warrenty. The fan/back panel have been replaced 3 times (fan always starts making noise, and water collects in and below crisper tray). It just happened again…4 times now same problem. If they replace it again, I am afraid it may last long enough for the warrenty to run out.
In fact, they already sent a repair man out, he states it’s the same problem. I wonder if there is a lemon law for appliances.
How can I be a part of this class action suit? Enough people have been taken advantage of…thanks.
We have the same model with same issues…purchased in 2010….the fan started being very very loud and then after several days of that, water under the crisper drawers appeared…this has now happened several times….now fan isn’t running at all….icemaker is defective as well and has had maintenance and parts replaced twice, early on.
I have the same model as you just wondering if you got anywhere with the lawsuit or how did you fix your problem
A bunch of us have RF265 french door with ice sheet buildup under crisper. Samsung needs to be sued for all of these other problems until they learn that they can’t cheat American consumers like they do in third world countries!!! Any lawyers want to take on the ice sheet buildup problem please e-mail me at: kscottp@gmail.com
Please add my name to the law suit we are having the same issues
Model RF263BEAESR is junk also. Day I received it it did not work. Samsung told me to put the food in the refrigerator to help it cool of after 15 hours of install.. The next day needless to say all the food was ruined. They will not pay for the ruined food nor the inconvenience we experienced trying to get it diagnosed. All I can say is stay away from refrigerator refrigerators, I swapped ti out for LG and it worked on day one.
Ice forming on the left inside back panel, all food spoiled (RS263TDPN) Big disappointment for our dream fridge. Two and a half years old.
Freezer works fine.
RS263TDPN Our Samsung stopped cooling in the refrigerator side in Jan. 2013. We purchased in July 2010. It freezes up on the left side inside the frig and we actually can see the ice. Lots of spoiled food and bad smell. How can I be involved in the class action suit?