SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20130525-BAFA9-2147455797. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Panasonic NI-A56NR (Clothing steam iron.). Incident: I have a Panasonic steam iron that I bought 4 years ago (I don't have my receipt though). The model number is NI-A56NR. On 5/21/13 I was ironing my blouse and the iron began to melt it so I turned the iron down to the lowest setting. I started to iron a second piece of clothing and it burnt that item as well. Immediately afterward the iron started to smoke and it started to melt the plastic around the [REDACTED] plate. I turned the iron off but it continued to smoke and melt the plastic for another 5 minutes before cooling down. I contacted Panasonic today, 5/25/13, and they said that the warranty expires after one year. I explained the situation to them but they would not acknowledge it as a recall/safety issue. I understand their warranty policy but I feel that this is more of a safety issue than merely a simply defect which I define as a product that no longer functions as designed. Please investigate this further so a potential fire does not occur in someone's house. Thanks, [REDACTED]