SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20200731-F6B7D-2001266. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: GE JS645SLSS (GE Smooth Surface Self-Cleaning Slide-In Electric Range (Stainless Steel). Model # JS645SLSS Serial # TH257342Q Purchased from Lowe's Oxnard CA on 4/11/2018 Total Payment $984.18 on AMEX Purpose: Kitchen household use). Incident: Electric range malfunctioned in early morning of July 7, 2020 when no one was in the kitchen, started self-cleaning cycle, producing heat and smoke enough to set off house smoke alarms. Family members who were sleeping were awakened and consumer called local Fire Department because of unknown consequences and risk of fire. I shut off all electrical circuits in the house. Fire crews were able to remove extremely hot stove from kitchen but had to break drywall behind the stove to make sure nothing was burning or smoldering. Wood and insulation were OK. Stove remains outside but consumer is unable to open the oven door. Inside the house, fire crews had to bring in blower apparatus to help clear the noxious smoke; in fact it took several days for the odor to clear. My great concern is that if no one had been at home, the stove might have continued to heat, in spite of possibly having shut-off fuses, and start a fire in the home, or produce enough heat to activate interior fire sprinklers. This would have ruined all furnishings, books and artwork, personal items and clothing, etc. causing terrible financial ss. A fire in the home would have threatened neighbors in the area, which is a rural and dry Southern California valley that has seen fires destroy homes in the past ([REDACTED], Dec 2017). I will be seeking damages from GE, even though the manufacturer's warranty was one year only, on the grounds that a manufacturing defect was the likely cause of this incident, and such an incident as this is a danger to personal and property safety and must be disclosed in the public recor