GE Microwave Fires: Consumer Investigation

Millions of GE microwave ovens are used without problems.  But a new Class Action lawsuit claims there may be a fire risk with some of them.

Coming Home to Find a Kitchen Fire

A fire destroyed one Northern Ohio woman's kitchen. According to fire investigators, the fire in Ann Mau's kitchen began in the microwave.

Mau said, "I entered the house and looked down the hallway and saw black billowing smoke coming out of my kitchen."

Hudson Ohio Fire Chief Bob Carter said, "We determined that the origin of the fire was in the microwave in the area of the control panel. And it was apparently caused by some kind of electrical or mechanical defect in the control panel of the microwave."

The microwave was not even turned on.  "What is most puzzling to me is how this could happen?" Mau stated.  She said, "The firefighter told us five more minutes (and) we would have lost our whole first floor, not to mention it could have been our whole house."

Other Suspicious Kitchen Fires

That's not the only mysterious fire involving these microwaves. A second report by fire investigators in Michigan blamed a malfunction in another GE microwave.

And a third fire at another Northern Ohio home pointed to another GE microwave or the area near it.

The homeowner, Ron Nicol, said "What caused this fire? Nothing was on."

"It was very suspicious to us," Nicol said. "We had just returned from a vacation celebrating our one-year wedding anniversary, so we hadn't used the microwave in forever."

The official fire report found the cause was undetermined. 

GE Defends its Ovens

GE said the cause is currently under investigation and also said "evidence suggests it had nothing to do with the microwave itself."

But in regards to the fire in Mau's home, GE said in an e-mailed letter it had "determined there was a fault in the electrical control panel of the microwave." But two hours later, GE changed its story. The company said in the second letter "We are not ruling out the possibility of a malfunction ... but we are also looking at other information."

GE also said in its letter "These types of random failures are rare and do not indicate a systemic problem." 

The complaints in this report involved GE over-the-range microwave ovens. GE says that it has received 13 reported incidents of smoke damage or scorching of adjacent cabinets last year. But the company also said it has an admirable safety record with more than 12 million of these ovens in use.

But for consumers whose homes have caught fire, there are lots of unanswered questions.  Mau said, "It's scary. It's scary to think what could have been."

If You Have had a Fire....

The Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington has asked that if you have a complaint to let it know, by filing a report at cpsc.gov. The CPSC investigated similar complaints five years ago and failed to find a defect. At this point there is no recall.

Meantime, some homeowners who have suffered kitchen fires are now filing a Class Action lawsuit.  We will update with details on this suit as we learn more.

As always, don't waste your money.  I'm  John Matarese.