SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20231230-E0DDC-2147343142. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Bissell 2910 (BISSELL Powerforce Powerbrush Pet Lightweight Carpet Washer - Model number 2910). Incident: I bought my BISSELL Powerforce Powerbrush Pet Lightweight Carpet Washer - 2910 from Walmart in May of 2021. I use it a few times a year on our one carpeted room in our house. Last night I was cleaning our carpet as usual after I had just cleaned out the Carpet Washer when I smelled plastic burning. Right away I turned it off, unplugged it, attempted to clean it out again in case there was a clog (there was not). I waited a bit then turned it back on and instantly the burning smell returned, even worse this time so I turned it off and unplugged it immediately. I am an engineer so I proceeded to unscrew the belt access door but it would not come off. My husband took a turn and applied some force and the belt access door finally came off. The rubber belt was dislodged from its track and had FUSED to the plastic housing of the motor. The interior was full of burnt and melted hard plastic. The belt is still melted to the plastic motor housing. Thankfully I turned the cleaner off quickly once I had smelled the burning. Had I not I fear it would have soon caught fire. This is extremely alarming and could have injured me badly and damaged my home. As an engineer who specializes in root cause analysis and design quality I thought there is no way this has happened before or Bissell would have recalled this model. To my alarm I saw on Walmart's website numerous other reviews describing the same thing happening to other users of this model. This device must be recalled until sufficient root cause analysis has been completed with corrective and preventative actions put into place. This