SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20240920-D0B31-2147336418. Severity: Injury, Emergency Department Treatment Received. Product: Singer Model # HD6800C 125V~60Hz 0.7A (Singer Sewing Machine Heavy Duty). Incident: I have a very serious safety issue with my Singer sewing machine. I have been sewing over 50 years so I have plenty of sewing experience. In May of 2022 I purchased a new Singer Model #HD6800C serial number 131711071953. The problem is that the machine runs even when I am nowhere near it. It takes off very fast and the only way to stop it is to unplug it. It has happened about 5 times in the past and it happened again today. I called Singer customer service some weeks ago and since the machine is no longer under warrantee, I was simply told to unplug the foot petal and use the hand feature on the machine to sew. I was also told that I am not the first person to report this issue. I was too busy at the time to argue about the response with the customer service person but when the problem happened again today- when I was out of the room, I realized that this is a much greater concern than what I first imagined. Here is the huge issue - I am at risk of getting my fingers caught in the needle when this machine takes off. I also have grandchildren that I am teaching to sew and I truly feel that this machine could seriously injure them if the machine suddenly took off when they were sewing. I know enough to quickly unplug the machine but this is such a shocking and startling event that they may stick their little hands into the needle to stop it. That thought terrifies me. Today it started zooming when I was in the other room and I had to run in to stop it. What if I was outdoors or left the machine plugged in and on and left the home. The least of the damage will be to foul the