SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20200907-5DFD8-2147369962. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: LG LD57551ST (LG dishwasher. Model LD57551ST. 212KWCF52811 serial number.). Incident: LG LD57551ST dishwasher purchased in 2013. Normal use. Dishwasher was mid-cycle. Fortunately spouse was home. Smelled very strong electrical fire odor. Quickly went throughout house to smell out the source. Found it in the kitchen where the dishwasher was venting. Stopped dishwasher and opened to see if anything was stuck or burning. Because this dishwasher does not have an exposed heating element she was confident it was not a melted utensil nor did it smell like burning plastic. The odor was stronger and smelled more serious. Researched the problem and found multiple reports of other consumer with burned wires and circuit boards at the top right of the dishwasher front panel; one consumer said they called the fire department to extinguish. Our did not catch fire but who knows if it would have if someone was not home to stop the cycle and unplug the appliance. Followed instructions to remove inside panel of the door and found the same problem. Wire harnesses with melted protective coating, brittleness around wire connection to circuit board, and severe darkening around the area on the control board. Too extensive to just replace a control board without having to replace multiple wire harness assembly parts as well. Contacted LG service on their [REDACTED] social media channel to report problem. No response.