Nearly a Million Units Recalled Due to Burn Risk
Cooking food under high heat and pressure is not a new invention. Using this method to cook food much more quickly has been known for centuries, and the first pressure cooker was invented more than 300 years ago. In addition to cooking food quickly, these devices have also been commonly used in food canning, where the high heat and pressure do an excellent job of sterilizing the food to stay healthy and nutritious for longer once preserved.
Unfortunately, a pressure cooker is also in many ways similar to a bomb waiting to go off. The tightly sealed modern pressure cooker can develop very high pressures and temperatures of more than 260 degrees. If this seal breaks suddenly due to a defect in the device, the superheated steam and food can explode outward, causing serious burn injuries to anyone nearby.
Late in 2020, Sunbeam Products Inc. had to recall more than 940,000 units of a particular model of pressure cooker sold in the United States and Canada due to defects that were causing just this type of dangerous event.
The Sunbeam Pressure Cooker Device and its Defect
Sunbeam is one of the most recognizable brands of kitchen devices in the United States. Started in the late 1890s as a machinery manufacturer, the company put out its first “Sunbeam” branded household device – an electric iron – in 1910. The company quickly devoted itself to the exclusive manufacture of household appliances, including the “Mixmaster” line of electric mixers starting in 1930, electric coffee makers, toasters, shavers, and other devices. The company also grew through acquisition, such as its purchase of Oster Manufacturing and their “Osterizer” line of electric blenders that were first marketed in the 1940s. At its peak in the 1970s, Sunbeam Products Inc. had almost 30,000 employees, but the company had financial difficulties in the following years and was eventually acquired by another company. Having been passed between a few different owners, Sunbeam is currently a subsidiary of Newell Brands, a manufacturer of numerous consumer products and household appliances.
The Sunbeam appliance that was the subject of the recent mass recall is the “Crock-Pot 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cooker.” As its name suggests, this appliance is intended to provide options for both the slow-cooking mode of Crock-Pots with the fast-cooking mode of a pressure cooker. Unfortunately, in its fast-cooking pressure cooker mode of operation, the lid can fail to properly lock, allowing the lid to suddenly detach, causing serious risk of severe burn injuries to users. This defect was the reason for the recall notice issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in November 2020. About 915,000 of the Crock-Pot 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cooker units had been sold within the United States, with approximately 28,000 more sold in Canada.
Not the First Defective Pressure Cooker or Recall
As we noted above, a pressure cooker has some obvious inherent dangers that must be mitigated by good design and manufacturing to make these high-pressure, high-heat devices safe for use. Due to this fact, products liability cases resulting from personal injuries caused by defective pressure cookers are not something new and unique to the Sunbeam Crock-Pot 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cooker. Indeed, many people are seriously injured every year due to these appliances. Consumer watchdog Consumerwatch.com reported thirty-nine hospital visits in a single recent year due to pressure cookers. Injuries and/or recalls for defects have been associated with pressure cooker brands as diverse as Breville, Cuisinart, Instant Pot, Prestige, Sunbeam, Wolfgang Puck, and many others.
While modern pressure cookers certainly try to incorporate more safety features than early models did, such as locking lids and pressure relief valves — these cookers are not always as well-designed or manufactured as they should be, leaving defects present that can lead to serious burn injuries and products liability claims. Typically, the defect producing the point of failure is in the lid. The pressure cooker lid is specifically intended to form a tight seal and allow pressure to build — this is fundamental to how these cookers work. Usually, there is also a relief valve designed to release excess steam and maintain a steady, high (but safe) cooking pressure and some type of manual pressure release to ensure that all excess pressure and steam have been released before the lid can be opened. When these features are defective and don’t work properly, the lid can either blow off on its own during cooking, or the user may open a cooker whose internal pressure has not been reduced to a safe level.
Watch YouTube Video: Nearly One Million Sunbeam Crock-Pots Are Being Recalled Over Burn Hazard. The video clip from the Today show below reports on the recall of about a million Sunbeam Crock-Pots due to a lid problem that can cause a burn hazard.
Sacramento Injury Attorneys
Hello – I’m Ed Smith, a personal injury lawyer in Sacramento, California. If you or a member of your family has been injured by a defective product like the Sunbeam Crock-Pot 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cooker and are looking for free and friendly advice related to a personal injury claim, please contact us at (916) 921-6400 or (800) 404-5400 to speak with one of our injury attorneys. Or you can also contact us by using our online form.
:gm cha [cs 950] bw