SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20230111-2534F-2147351487. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: 24 in. built-in, st. steel front control, Tall Tub GDF510PSM4SS (All GE dishwasher under-counter models in the GDF510, GDT535 and GDP615 series, and possibly additional models.). Incident: My GE dishwasher Model #GDF510PSM4SS (approximately 2-1/2 years old) suddenly leaked all over the kitchen floor. Upon troubleshooting I found the rubber hose elbow at the discharge of the wash pump had completely deteriorated. In researching the replacement part at [REDACTED] , I found that hundreds of angry customers had reported the same problem on recently purchased dishwashers, with an average satisfaction rating of 1 star. Some reported major damage to their wood floors, or even to their finished basement below. GE has been aware of this problem, but has done nothing to prevent its recurrence. They require replacement of the entire pump assembly ($100) and refuse to make the rubber hose elbow available. This would seem to indicate that any replacement pump assembly would still use the flawed hose elbow, and that the problem would repeat within two years. Please note that the customers that have complained are only the tip of the iceberg, being those customers who are handy enough to fix their own appliances and order replacement parts. The average consumer would simply call a repairman and pay the bill without understanding that there is a defective part causing a problem with their dishwasher. Such flooding is a major safety hazard, as the electrical connection to the dishwasher is less than an inch off the floor. Unexpected flooding of a kitchen floor is not only a slipping hazard, but could result in electrocution or electrical short-circuit fire risk. Other models believed to use this same part, besides the GDF510 series, include the GDT535 and GDP615 series. GE ne