Following today’s BEIS Select Committee hearing into the effectiveness of the Whirlpool recall on faulty tumble dryers Martyn Allen, Technical Director of Electrical Safety First, commented:
“Electrical Safety First has led the way on calling for a recall of affected tumble dryers since Whirlpool discovered faults with millions of its machines back in 2015. Following Government intervention we have now seen a recall issued on these unmodified appliances that remain in people’s homes. We would have liked to have seen Whirlpool take this step independently, without the intervention of the Government being necessary.
We believe the current Government recall page is not good enough and have been continuing to campaign for a centralised recall database that is consumer facing and well-publicized to improve recall rates. The Charity has requested a list of affected models from Whirlpool on two separate occasions and on both occasions were refused this list. We welcome Whirlpool’s commitment today to finally publish this list, however, we believe this should have been done sooner.
Regarding the modification process we now understand Whirlpool have committed to replacing all machines affected by this fault that are yet to be modified. The Charity would encourage consumers who have not had their machines modified take that opportunity and request a replacement dryer.
Consumers concerned about machines that have undergone a modification process are urged to contact Whirlpool directly. Organisations that may have information of incidents involving these tumble dryers after the modification has taken place have an obligation to pass on details of these cases to the manufacturer so they can investigate and assess what action needs to be taken. Not doing so would be the detriment of consumer safety.”