Reports have emerged that Samsung Electronics has announced a plan to voluntarily recall 210,000 refrigerators from its Zipel line sold in Korea between March 2005 and June 2006.
The recall, which is the largest ever in the domestic appliance market, comes after a refrigerator reportedly exploded in a house in Gyeonggi Province earlier this month. Company officials say the cause was an electric leakage in a heater used to remove frost on refrigerant pipes.
The company adds that it will also provide free safety check-ups for customers who bought the same refrigerator model sometime before or after the designated period.
But that’s hardly the end of the story. There have been several reports of these fridges exploding, including a few from the UK. And yes, this apparently also affects the machines that were previously featured on Watchdog as well for yet another issue which has also been reported on newer models being sold today.
Reports are sketchy thus far but what we’ve gotten so far is that this may well be a worldwide recall which will cost the company untold millions to fund.
It is reported so far that the European part of its plans to repair around 400,000 fridges but that it is a world-wide problem.
In May a Samsung American style fridge freezer was reported in Wolverhampton that, “exploded “˜like an earthquake’ smashing windows and doors and ripping holes in the ceiling.”
A family of six were all reportedly unhurt despite extensive damage to the property. A broken thermostat on the four-year-old appliance had been repaired four days earlier.
The Korea Herald reported that the home appliance and consumer electronics firm was to provide repair services for 210,000 refrigerators sold in Korea, citing defects in their defrost systems.
It also said that a Samsung spokesperson said the cause of the incident in the United Kingdom, which happened just four days after the product had been repaired, has not been identified.
Samsung will recall some models of SRT, SRS and SRN series, which were manufactured between March 2005 and June 2006. As a precautionary measure, Samsung will also include refrigerators with a similar defrost system that were not made during the period.
Details of the UK recall on these potentially very dangerous Samsung American fridge freezers has yet to be released as this article was published.
