SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20201003-EE66B-2147369428. Severity: Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received. Product: West Bend Stir Crazy Deluxe 83210 (West Bend Stir Crazy Deluxe popcorn popper: Model 83210 bright red base with black trim, black colored removable popping plate with stir rod and integrated handles, clear plastic cover with removable lid, butter melter integrated into the top the of cover, on/off switch.). Incident: I purchased West Bend Stir Crazy Deluxe popcorn popper from Amazon on 10/16/2019. The product had the following nameplate information: Model #: 83210 Date code: 1842 During my first time using the popcorn popper: 1) After the popper had completed popping the popcorn, when I flipped the popcorn removable popping plate and cover over to allow the popcorn to be contained in the cover for eating I burned both hands. The popcorn popper handles are much too small to prevent the user from contacting the hot surface exterior surfaces of the bottom portion of the popper. 2) When I flipped the removable popping plate over, the heater element in the bottom portion of the popper remains fully energized. I could have dropped popped popcorn or residual oil used to make the popcorn directly on the energied element and caused a fire. In addition, there was nothing to prevent me from contacting the heater element during the removal of the popping plate. The second time I used the popper I used the melted butter feature in the popper. During the popping process, the melted butter ran down the popper cover and landed on the energized heater element under the removable popper plate. This created a significant amount of smoke and was an obvious fire hazard when the popper plate was removed and adequate oxygen reached the smoldering butter on the element. Based on these (2) incidences I have not used the popper since. When I filed a complaint with West Bend on 11/28/2019 regarding the unsafe aspects of the popper, I never received a res