SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20200604-F2C67-2147371898. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Hamilton Beach 22785 (Hamilton Beach 2 Slot Toaster, model 22785, chrome finish). Incident: Three times since we purchased our toaster on May 9, 2020 the toaster got into a dangerous state. Each time the incidents occurred we were toasting bagels. After several minutes we noticed smoke coming out of the toaster and the toaster had not automatically stopped. Clicking the 'Cancel' button had no effect - the elements stayed on and the bagels continued to burn. The only way I could get the toaster to stop was to unplug it. The toaster itself became *extremely* hot to the touch, and there was a distinct smell of burning toaster parts (perhaps plastic, rubber, or metal). After the toaster cooled down it appears the problem is that the metal piece the bread or bagel sits on gets dislodged easily and stuck on the inside of the toaster itself. This must prevent the toaster from turning off and popping up the bagel/toast. We had an older model that also had the metal piece dislodge occasionally, but it didn't prevent the toaster from turning off (it just made it hard to get the toast out). I feel this is an extremely dangerous appliance. If we had walked away or been distracted, there is no doubt the bagel would have caught on fire (it was very close). I also am made to wonder what would happen to the toaster unit itself if it were left on indefinitely.