Shattered Glass in Range Oven Doors Sparks Hundreds of CPSC Complaints

Most of the ranges cited in the complaints were made by Frigidaire, but ranges from other brands were also reported. According to our research, 263 of the complaints cited Frigidaire ranges. Other complaints referenced GE (63 incidents), Whirlpool (35), LG (15), and Samsung (10).

In many cases, consumers explicitly stated that the glass shattered when the appliance had been turned off, sometimes for several days. 

Consumer Reports has contacted the CPSC, asking the agency to investigate the incidents and potentially press for a recall of certain range models.

“While these glass-shattering incidents caught range owners by surprise, it’s clear that manufacturers should have known about this issue,” says Gabe Knight, a senior safety policy analyst for CR. “No one should have to worry about whether there’s a ticking time bomb in their kitchen. These companies should work with the CPSC, and be transparent with consumers about what steps they’re taking to address this issue.”

We reached out to the five manufacturers with the most incident reports about our findings. Samsung, Whirlpool, GE, and Electrolux (parent company of Frigidaire) all replied by email, saying that their products meet third-party safety standards.

Samsung specifically referenced UL 858 and the American National Standards Institute Z21.1 and noted that the company provides “free-of-charge range oven glass door repairs (including parts and labor) regardless of warranty status in the unlikely event an incident occurs."

Electrolux said that product failures like this are sometimes caused by invisible imperfections in the tempered glass, which typically occur early in the unit’s life and are therefore covered under warranty. Failure that occurs after the first year is "typically due to damage caused during use," the company says.

"These standards recognize [that] the glass used in every manufacturer’s oven door may infrequently break and so require the glass to break into small fragments with rounded edges,” the company wrote. “Although we know that glass breakage can be startling, our compliance with these standards has ensured that when it does occur, the potential for injury is substantially reduced."

LG said the company is aware of the incidents but "has not identified a basis at this time for additional action."

Electrolux recommends that consumers refrain from closing the oven door until the oven racks are fully in place and from bumping or scratching the door with pans or other objects. But in a class action lawsuit filed against Electrolux in federal court in Delaware, lawyers argued that the glass is “predisposed to explode,” pointing to chemical impurities in the door’s tempered soda-lime glass as the cause of a similar incident involving a Frigidaire range purchased in 2020 by Amanda Yanovitch of Midlothian, Va.

The complaint contends that Electrolux "knew or should have known when it sold the Oven to the public that the Oven suffered from the Defect, was unsafe, could not be expected to function properly for the full duration of its expected useful life, presented an unreasonable risk that the glass would shatter, and presented an unreasonable and significant risk of personal injury and/or property damage to consumers and the public."

In March, the parties agreed to a settlement in principle.

CR’s Knight would like to see manufacturers step forward to address consumer concerns.

"Despite manufacturer claims that glass-shattering incidents are rare, or that users are to blame, hundreds of consumer complaints tell a different story,” says Knight. “Glass shouldn’t shatter spontaneously, and range owners are justifiably upset. To preserve customer trust, GE, Frigidaire, LG, and Whirlpool should follow Samsung’s lead and provide free-of-charge repairs to impacted owners."

Our analysis of consumer complaints sent to the CPSC identified at least 12 Frigidaire models associated with the incidents. Model numbers beginning with FFEF, LFEF, and FCRE were cited most frequently. Injuries were reported in 29 incidents.

The model number can appear in various places on your range, depending on the make and model. At times, you’ll find it on the oven door, the interior trim, the back of the unit, or a nameplate in the drawer beneath the oven. For help in pinpointing the info, you may need to search online for the brand of range you own.

Many of the Frigidaire models cited in incident reports were previously rated by Consumer Reports, but all but two have been discontinued and are no longer available for purchase. None of the Frigidaire, GE, LG, Samsung, or Whirlpool models we tested suffered this kind of oven door glass failure while in our labs.

Many of the incident reports in the CPSC database don’t list the date when the range was purchased, but we did collect that info when it was presented. In only about a dozen complaints did the glass shatter during the first year of ownership. The peak concentration of failures seems to occur between years four and six. That’s after the warranty has ended. In some cases, the issue surfaced at least 10 years after purchase.

Here are model numbers to note for other brands:

• For GE, model numbers beginning with JGBS and JGB7 were cited most frequently in the CPSC database. Injuries were reported in four incidents.
• For Whirlpool, model numbers beginning with WFG3 were cited most frequently. Injuries were reported in seven incidents.
• For LG, there aren’t enough incident reports for specific model numbers to stand out (appearing at least five times). Injuries were reported in two incidents.
• For Samsung, there aren’t enough incident reports for specific model numbers to stand out. There were no injuries reported.

We found around a dozen other manufacturers with between one and eight similar incident reports on the CPSC database, but we confined our analysis to brands with at least 10 complaints.

If your oven door shatters, report the incident on the CPSC’s SaferProducts.gov website. You should also reach out to the manufacturer. Here are the customer service numbers for each brand (listed in alphabetical order):

Frigidaire: 800-374-4432

GE: 800-626-2005

LG: 800-243-0000

Samsung: 800-726-7864

Whirlpool: 866-698-2538