SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20210406-5A91C-3164149. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: GE JVM6175DKWW (Over the range microwave). Incident: Caller stated that the microwave caught fire while cooking a potato. This incident occurred a few mins after the content was cooking. He stated that the unit started emitted smoke and sparks, which caused the alarms to go off. He stated that he noticed that the content was emitting flames, however, the fire was contained within the unit. The fire damaged the interior and the cost to repair would be the same as purchasing another microwave. Caller stated that the retailer contacted the manufacturer but he was advised that they were unwilling to work with the store. The microwave is currently with the retailer. Caller feels that this microwave is a fire hazard and should be reported. Attachment to report no. 20210406-5A91C-3164149 The General Electric Above the Range Microwave Model JVM6175DKWW serial nr. ZM210273B was purchased on May 7, 2020 to replace a [REDACTED] Above the Range Microwave that we had used for fourteen years. The door locking mechanism failed to lock the door and so we had to obtain a replacement. This unit successfully heated one or two potatoes many times over its life. A key feature was a rectangular tray that moved from side-to-side in operation. This feature allowed the magnatron energy to be more even over the item being cooked than a microwave with a round tray moving in a circular motion. We purchased the General Electric unit on May 7, 2020 and used it in a similar manner to February 19, 2021. It heated one or two potatoes just fine until February 19, 2021 when some sort of microwave system failure occurred which resulted in smoke and fire to the