Whirlpool has admitted that there could be up to 800,000 faulty tumble dryers in UK homes that have an increased fire risk, higher than previously thought.
Last month the government ordered a recall of 500,000 tumble dryers, four years after fire safety concerns were first raised by the US home appliance maker. The affected brands are Hotpoint, Indesit, Creda, Swan and Proline.
However, company executives appearing before MPs on the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee on Tuesday admitted the number could be higher.
Jeff Noel, corporate vice-president of communications and public affairs at Whirlpool, said estimates of faulty dryers in UK homes ranged from 250,000 to 800,000.
He said Whirlpool had already modified 1.7m dryers to fix a fault that could cause fire through the buildup of fluff. The company logged 54 fires related to this issue in recent years, including three in machines that had been modified, according to Michael Farrington, another executive.
Noel said Whirlpool wanted to expand the recall campaign so that consumers have the option of a free-of-charge modification, a free replacement, or a discounted upgrade. This still has to be approved by the regulator.
MPs also heard from a customer, Jemma Spurr, whose modified Hotpoint dryer caught fire last September while she was at home with her young children, causing significant damage to her house. She told MPs that the company was unresponsive when she tried to report the fire, and only managed to do so when she visited a Currys store, which sells the dryers.
She said she had neither received an apology from Whirlpool nor a forensic report on the cause of the fire, and was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement before receiving any compensation.
Noel apologised to her during the hearing. He said confidentiality agreements were required by insurers during settlements but, when pressed by Rachel Reeves, chair of the BEIS committee, pledged to raise the issue with them.
The Whirlpool executives also promised to publish a full list of all faulty models on the company’s website by next week. When asked why the firm had not done this earlier, Noel said it had provided a model checker for customers and felt this was more useful than a long list.
Whirlpool has faced heavy criticism over its decision not to recall the machines despite the fire risk.
Commenting on the BEIS evidence session, Sue Davies, strategic policy adviser at the consumer group Which?, said Whirlpool had put corporate reputation ahead of public safety. She added: “If the safety of Whirlpool’s fire-risk tumble dryers cannot be assured, the secretary of state, Greg Clark, must step in and ensure that all potentially dangerous machines are immediately removed from people’s homes.”
Whirlpool said in a statement after the BEIS session: “The Office for Product Safety and Standards recently concluded a comprehensive year-long review of the dryer programme, which confirmed that the modification is effective in resolving the issue.
“Safety is always our number one priority and we remain committed to resolving all unmodified dryers affected by this issue. As we updated the committee, we are expanding our recall campaign to include further options to encourage remaining consumers to come forward and remedy their unmodified appliances.”
