SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20211128-0D624-2147358637. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Oxo 8716900 (OXO Brew Adjustable Temperature Kettle, Electric, Clear, model 8716900.). Incident: We own an OXO Brew Adjustable Temperature Kettle (model 8716900) which has just experienced a disturbing type of breakage. The kettle is approximately 18 months old (April '20 - November '21). It has never been used inappropriately or exposed to damaging conditions. After a routine instance of heating water the kettle began turning ON full blast even while the base, which contains the control knob, is supposed to be turned OFF. In other words, it's permanently stuck on and heating/boiling, even though the on/off switch is left off. I've gone so far as to unplug the unit completely so it fully powers down, but as soon as the base is plugged back in to the outlet the kettle begins boiling again, even though the control knob is never touched. The unit gives no indication that the unit is in fact on; the control knob gives its usual "off" appearance. It does not appear that the control knob is stuck or damaged. There's no indication that the unit is on and heating except for the fact that it boils water and produces noise when plugged in. This seems to be a fire hazard. There's no clear sign that the unit is powered, and there's no way to power the unit OFF without physically disconnecting it from power. It would be extremely easy for a customer to walk away from the unit while not realizing that it was still on and heating.