The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a recall of more than 2 million dehumidifiers manufactured by China-based New Widetech, saying there have been more than 100 instances of the machines causing fires, leading to more than $17 million in fire damage.
The CPSC and the company announced the recall on August 6th, 2021, and it affects dehumidifiers sold across the country under more than 20 brand names, including Whirlpool, Honeywell, Idylis and Aeon Air.
The dehumidifiers were sold at Lowe’s, Costco, Walmart, Menards and other retailers between February 2009 and August 2017, and include 25-, 30-, 35-, 45-, 50-, 60-, 65-, 70- and 74-pint machines.
New Widetech is aware of 107 incidents of the recalled machines overheating or catching fire, causing about $17 million in property damage, but so far no injuries have been reported.
The agency urged owners to stop using the dehumidifiers immediately and contact New Widetech for a refund, which will be pro-rated based on the machine’s age.
The dehumidifiers are also sold in Canada and Mexico, with Health Canada’s press release saying up to 413,915 of the machines were sold in Canada, and up to 25,659 in Mexico.
This is not the first time the CPSC has issued a recall on China-made dehumidifiers sold in the U.S. In 2016, the agency announced a recall of about 2.5 million fire-prone dehumidifiers made by Gree Electric Appliances Inc., after the agency hit the company earlier that year with a record-setting $15.45 million penalty over the dehumidifiers, alleging they were not only defective and susceptible to overheating and catching fire, but that Gree had not informed the CPSC of the complaints it had received of such problems.
LAW 360: https://www.law360.com/articles/1410597/cpsc-chinese-co-recall-2m-fire-prone-dehumidifiers