Homeowners say the knobs on the front of the ranges are too easy to bump
Ricardo Beas of Buffalo, New York, had just finished remodeling his kitchen and decided to host a party at his home. During the gathering, a guest bumped into his newly installed LG electric range, prompting it to turn on without anyone noticing.
A plate left atop the range exploded.
It couldve been much worse, Beas said about the incident, noting there are no children and only he, his wife and cat live in the home.
Beas, who has had the range since 2022, received the recall notice issued by LG and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in early February and was hoping the remedy would be to return the range. But during a call with LG customer service, he felt like he was being scolded for not knowing about the software locking mechanism, he said.
The remedy from the company and the federal government would just be a free warning sticker.
Beas owns one of the approximately 500,000 ranges that are being recalled in the U.S. due to it being deemed a potential fire hazard. The sensitivity of the front-mounted knobs can cause the range to turn on accidentally, by both humans andpets. The Commission received 86 reports of accidental activation, 28 fires, and five fires that resulted in more than $340,000 worth of property damage.
Twenty days after the U.S. notice for recall, Canada issued a recall for 137,257 LG ranges sold in thatcountry. The remedy is the same as it was for U.S. consumers a free warning label.
Jodi DAless of Ontario, Canada, has one of the recalled ranges, and said she is scared to death of it.
Six months after installing the range in 2018, paper towels left atop the stove caught fire.
All I could see was flames, she said. My house could have burned down.
Now, she doesnt leave the house without checking the range being off.
I still have nightmares about it, she said.
She had called LG when the fire first happened, but never received a call back, calling the LG customer service non-existent.
She too said she didnt know about the software lock mechanism, nor did she receive the recent recall notice in Canada.
Like Beas and DAless, consumers are frustrated with the free sticker solution, and were hoping that LG would do more to remedy the matter. Like DAless, some are plannng to get rid of the range altogether.
'Issuing a sticker is not going to prevent fires'
Consumer complaints to the Commission include reports of someone accidentally bumping into the range, only to realize it was triggered after they found items atop their stove burned and their house full of smoke. Some reported burns requiring First Aid.
But many of these reports dont make it to the federal government.
Owners of LG ranges currently under recall who spoke to ConsumerAffairssaid the knobs are sensitive and turn the range on easily, sometimes with a slight bump. They did not report the incidents to the Commission.
Jim Van Dyk, 58, of Boston, Massachusetts, had his LG range installed during a kitchen renovation. Contractors placed a blanket on top of the ranges glass to shield it from scratches. But someone bumped into the appliance, triggering it andmelting the blanket.
He contacted LG following the incident, only to be told the range was not under warranty.
I think your ranges are unsafe, he told them over the phone. I think this is a product problem.
While an LG tech replaced the top for free, Van Dyk wasted no time addressing the sensitive knobs, opting to install toddler-proof knob covers to prevent any future mishaps.
It wasnt until the recall that he learned about the locking mechanism. While he calls the free sticker remedy ridiculous, he said he will use it once he gets it, but prefers the range be replaced.
Those knobs are unsafe as they are, he said. Its kind of a pain.
When Marianna Helin of Pompano Beach, Florida, was having her kitchen remodeled in 2020, contractors told her the LG range turned on automatically during installation.
She had chosen the range for its aesthetic, she said, but noticed that the sensitive knobs triggered the range to turn on and heat up very quickly.
As a nurse, she began worrying about the safety of the appliance what would happen if someone older with dementia accidentally touched the range? What if she was reaching for something above the range?
All you have to do is lean over, she said about the range being triggered on.
She didnt want to take the risk. By the time she received the recall notice, she had already given the appliance away. She notified the new owner about the recall and the sticker remedy.
Issuing a sticker is not going to prevent fires, she said. This is an elementary design flaw.
Dawn Stubitsch, 70, of Lake Saint Louis, Missouri, had a dish towel catch fire three weeks after her LG range was installed. She didnt think anything was wrong with the range at the time of the incident, but began to notice the sensitivity of the knobs over time.
I just inadvertently walked by the thing and it turned on, she said of the LG range.
Seven months later, she called LG, who sent over a repairman to have a look. But she was told the range would not be replaced because it was still working, and she was instead shown how to lock the knobs.
So when she heard about the recall, she thought LG would take the appliance back, but was flabbergasted to learn that the remedy was a warning sticker.
This is like a bandaid on a sharkbite, she said.
Her model number is included in the recall, but the serial number is not. She said she was in touch with LG customer service, who said her range would be included in the recall.
It probably means theyre going to give me a big sticker, she said. One I can mount on the wall.
She said she spent approximately $1,400 on the range, and finds the remedy to be an insult.
Thats a boatload of money to get something that can burn your house down, she said. When you pay that kind of money, you shouldnt have to lock the knob.
She said it irritates her to keep her range locked at all times, and sometimes she doesnt always remember to do it. She would rather LG take back the range so she can get something with knobs in the back.
A 'consumer education campaign'
But LG argues that this recall is more of a consumer education and awareness campaign to ensure LG range owners know that the locking mechanism exists.
John Taylor, senior vice president of LG Electronics USA, said LG recognizes that the range knobs were sensitive, which is why the lock feature was installed and was explained in the manual.
The solution was already built into the product, said Taylor.
Taylor added that anyone who requests a warning label will get one, even though one was already placed on the range. Taylor said the agreement struck between LG and the Commission was to make it a more prominent label and position it closer to the knobs.
Were happy to work with each consumer, he said.
Class action lawsuits
LG Electronics USA is currently the subject of a class action lawsuit for the recalled ranges.
According to the complaint filed in New Jersey mid-February, the suit centers around plaintiff Angel Solari of Mississippi purchased an LG range for his second home in Madison, Wisconsin, and is alleging that LG was aware of the faulty knobs and continued to sell the ranges without disclosing the dangers to the consumer.
Lawyers are also alleging that the design was defective and unreasonably dangerous, causing exposure to a material with harmful effects, deeming the product worthless. Lawyers are aiming to represent anyone who purchased a recalled range between 2015 and January 2025.
A similar class action lawsuit was moved to arbitration in March 2023. In that lawsuit, the plaintiff alleged the defective knobs caused a fire in his home
The listed model number in the class action lawsuit is now one of the models that was recalled.
Posted: 2025-03-10 00:34:47
