U.S. PIRG Consumer Blog: killerstoves.com

We held a news conference yesterday with Public Citizen and Consumer Federation of America to warn consumers that many kitchen stoves can easily tip over and crush or burn consumers, especially children or the elderly. Manufacturers are making cheaper, lighter-weight stoves prone to tipping over. While stoves should not be inherently unsafe, retailers are also failing to comply with a voluntary safety standard requiring that stoves have a safety bracket holding them to the wall. Here is our news release. In February, U.S. PIRG and the CFA had sent a letter to the CPSC asking for more information about burns, deaths and injuries, as well as details about why no action is being taken to enforce the voluntary standard. We've had no reply. More information is available at the website killerstoves.com. The event was covered by the Washington Post (story) , CNN, AP, Miami Herald, Reuters, C-Span and other outlets.

House Energy and Commerce chair John Dingell (D-MI), along with oversight subcommittee chair Bart Stupak (D-MI) are looking into the matter. Excerpt from our release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Approximately 15 to 20 million kitchens in the United States are equipped with a range that can tip over and crush, scald or burn whoever is standing in front of it, consumer groups warned today in a press conference at the National Press Club. Public Citizen, U.S. PIRG and the Consumer Federation of America detailed the longstanding problem in most brands of electric and gas ranges that affect households throughout the country.

According to documents from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the national retailer Sears, manufacturers and the government have known about this lurking danger for more than twenty years. Since the early 1980s, manufacturers of ranges began using lighter-gauge steel to reduce costs, even though they quickly learned that this resulted in a tendency for the lighter-weight appliances to tip over when weight was applied to the oven door.

At the event, we also criticized the president's nomination of National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) vice-president Michael Baroody to chair the CPSC. We're watching closely today-- to make sure he doesn't try to sneak a Friday afternoon recess appointment. Already this week, he "recess'ed" Susan Dudley (scroll down in WH release or see WH fact sheet) as a top White House OMB official in charge of cost-benefit analysis of regulations. (Our colleagues at OMB Watch have a Dudley page) with links to a detailed Public Citizen/OMB Watch report on Dudley.