SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20240610-F01E6-2147338689. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Hamilton Beach Model 31156 (Hamilton Beach 2-in-1 Toaster Over Model 31156 Series D1732CE 1450 Watts). Incident: In December 2023, I purchased the Model 31156 Toaster Oven from Hamilton Beach. I have used the toaster oven several times with no incident; however, a guest in my home inadvertently turned the Timer Dial to "Stay On" while the Oven Dial was on Broil. The Toaster Oven never shut off! It went for hours on Broil with the unit continuing to heat and the plastic emitting a noxious smell. The noxious odor woke me up in my sleep and I had to hunt down what the cause was. There is no Off switch on the oven , so I had to slide the lever from Oven to Toast in order to stop the process. With no timer on the Broil function, this oven could have continued heat on Broil without stopping on its own, and would have ultimately caused a fire. The plastic was close to igniting, and wall behind was extremely hot even though the unit was 6 inches away. I have not used the oven since. Today, I attempted to contact Hamilton Beach and report the issue. I called during business hours. The 1-800 number voicemail directed me to look at the website and send an email to the address on the website. There is no email on the website for consumers. There is only an email for the commercial customer.