Washing machien models from both Indesit and Hotpoint have once again been highlighted for so-called “exploding” where the inner drum appears to split on high spin and tear through the machine often casing substantial damage.
The report delivered on last night’s episode of Watchdog can be viewed here.
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Most people will agree, the report is quuite damning of Indesit since the company told Watchdog a previous report that only two models were affected by the issue when that, it would appear, is not the case and that there are several models that appear to share the risk of having the same issue.
In the interest of fairness and to put perspective on this report, bearing in mind that we are not big fans of Indesit here, we should point out that the cases reported to Watchdog appear to be around the 50 mark since the first report a year or so ago and that in the UK alone Indesit under it’s various brands including Hotpoint sells over 150,000 washing machines. This makes this failure a 0.03% failure rate of this nature if those figures are accurate, meaning that the chance of it happening is relatively very low.
That said, it should not happen and would be most distressing to the owner if it did.
As manufacturers move to lower and lower cost production models and use plastic instead of metal outer drums and cut the cost of components being used in construction events like this seem to be becoming more commonplace in the appliance industry. Recently we have seen several highly publicised recalls from teh likes of Hoover and Beko but the cost of issuing a recall is huge and it seems therefore often avoided until there is no alternative but to issue a recall notice.
So long as people demand low cost appliances as cheap as they can get them, especially washing machines, then the risk of failures like this are probably inevitable. Especially so given that there is little incentive for manufacturers to build more durable products and, those that are well built and do last are considerably more expensive than mainstream washing machines. If you want the most durable and best washing machine you can get it probably will not come cheap and certainly not from the lower end of the market.
In this case, although Indesit point to a few Indesit and Hotpoint models affected, Watchdog has compiled a list of models that could be at risk from this failure and they are:
- WIXE 167 (Indesit)
- WIXL 143 (Indesit)
- HVF 344 (Hotpoint)
- IWB5 113 (Indesit)
- WIXE 127 (Indesit)
- WIXL 163S (Indesit)
- WIXL 163 (Indesit)
- IWE7 145 (Indesit)
- WMF 760P (Hotpoint)
- IWC 6165 (Indesit)
- IWC 61651 (Indesit)
- WIXL 143S (Indesit)
- IWB 5123 (Indesit)
- IWC 6145S (Indesit)
Whether more models than this are affected or not remains to be seen.
In a statement to Watchdog, Indesit said the following in regard to these exploding washing machines:
At Indesit Company, the safety of our appliances is our priority and we continually monitor the performance of all our products. We treat any issues regarding the safety of our machines with the utmost seriousness. The particular cases highlighted on the programme, as well as the cases that have been brought to our attention, have been dealt with promptly and on a case by case basis.
The incidents outlined have been identified as a technical issue with a very small percentage of washing machine production during periods of 2007 to 2009 could be affected. On becoming aware of the potential issue it was risk assessed under General Product Safety Regulations and was classified as ‘Very Low’ risk therefore it was concluded that no direct consumer notification was required.
We take consumer concerns very seriously, through our ongoing and continual monitoring of all our products in the market place we identified a further improvement to reduce the risk to ‘Extremely Low’.
We would also like to inform consumers that this problem does not affect any Indesit or Hotpoint model on sale today.
Consumer satisfaction is extremely important to us, Indesit Company apologises to our consumers for any inconvenience caused, and we reaffirm our commitment to delivering quality, reliable products.
Any consumers with questions regarding their machines should visit the following to find out more information and support:
is iwc6165 a safety risk, my insurance company is replacing my old model iwe 1500 with this one, it was one in the news how safe are they now
Indesit washing machine, model IWME126UK, S/N209038414, was in use in my son\’s flat in London. On spin cycle, tenants noted smoke coming from the machine. This was an immediate cause for concern particularly as the flat where it was located was on the 3rd floor of a multi occupancy building. We considered it unsafe to be left there and removed it to my house in High Wycombe for further investigation. If it had caught fire it could have had serious consequences. Has this model been identified as one of Indesit\’s problem machines?
No this model is not affected and, the problem outlined here would not produce the symptoms that you describe.