‘It was a gunshot’: Another Frigidaire customer claims oven glass shattered

RALEIGH, N.C. — Connor O’Brien says the glass on his Frigidaire oven shattered. It’s an issue Action 9′s Jason Stoogenke has been investigating since 2021.

“All of a sudden, I heard, like it was a gunshot,” O’Brien told Stoogenke.

He says glass flew across the kitchen, and that his dog, Willow, was on her mat just inches from the oven but fortunately wasn’t hit.

O’Brien says his oven was not on or warm at the time. “Completely off for at least 12 hours,” he said.

He says he complained to Frigidaire. “It was just a hard no, you’re outside of warranty and that’s it,” he said. “I do understand warranties. We didn’t have the extended warranty, I get that. But I wasn’t really getting a lot of sympathy back.”

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O’Brien says he and his wife already bought a new oven and they had to dine out more often than they had panned, so now he wants some accountability.

“Have them kind of just acknowledge that, ‘Hey there’s a situation here. We’re going to figure something out,’” he said.

Since Stoogenke has been investigating this issue, nine people have contacted him. All of them had Frigidaire models.

Action 9 checked Consumer Product Safety Commission records from 2011 to 2022 and found 214 complaints about this issue involving Frigidaire or its parent company, Electrolux.

Electrolux emailed Stoogenke:

“Electrolux takes the safety of its products seriously. Although infrequent, glass used in oven doors may break. As a precaution and as required by household cooking standards UL 825 and ANSI Z21.1 with which Electrolux maintains certifications, the glass is designed to break into fragments with rounded edges if a failure does occur. This is in accordance with independent 3rd party certification agencies, Canadian Standards Association (CSA) and/or Underwriters’ Laboratories (UL), that require tempered or ‘safety’ glass is used in all Electrolux and Frigidaire ovens.

“Within the first year of purchase, failure in the glass may be due to imperfections in the glass and would be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty.

“Following the first year of purchase, failure in the glass has been typically due to damage caused during use.

Frequently, damage to the glass is caused by using the door to push in the oven rack or by an object accidentally hitting the interior or exterior glass. Both examples may cause a weakness that could lead to failure over time. Electrolux has and will continue to research and implement changes in materials, process, and design to improve ranges.

“Owner’s manuals included with our ovens outline precautions recommended to protect the glass from weakening over time:

Special Door Care Instructions - Most oven doors contain glass that can break.

Read the following recommendations:

1. Do not close the oven door until all the oven racks are fully in place.

2. Do not hit the glass with pots, pans, or any other object.

3. Scratching, hitting, jarring or stressing the glass may weaken its structure causing an increased risk of breakage at a later time.”

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