PSA, Major Viking appliance Recall, July 2009

Copied from ApplianceAdvisor.com for Your & Yours safety!

Submitted by advisor on Tue, 06/16/2009 - 6:13pm.

Viking Range to recall 45,000 refrigerators manufactured between 1999 and 2006. Why? Seems the doors have a tendency of falling off breaking people’s toes and fingers. Now that's a problem.How often could that happen? 57 times. Say again.....didn't hear you right.FIFTY SEVEN TIMES? VIKING FRIDGE DOORS HAVE FALLEN OFF FIFTY SEVEN TIMES!!!! So now they recall?
We really have so many more questions…..where to begin?
1) What’s so special about 57? Why not just keep on rolling them off the line?
2) After the 23rd door fell off, who was it that said, “Not impressed with only 23, this isn’t a systematic problem. Not an epidemic.”?
3) How heavy is a fridge door loaded up with gallons of mustard, ketchup, pickled herring, 2 liter bottles of Moxie and custom cabinet inserts?
4) Do any of Viking’s customers have kids? Considering the cavalier way they drop 60 lb doors willy nilly in kitchens across America, we hope not.
5) At what point does a company come to the conclusion that it should just stick to its cooking?
Perhaps other brands have the same 0.1% failure rate but we somehow doubt it.

Official recall notice below!!

NEWS from CPSC
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
Office of Information and Public Affairs
Washington, DC 20207
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJune 16, 2009Release # 09-242
Firm’s Recall Hotline: (888) 345-2650CPSC Recall Hotline: (800) 638-2772CPSC Media Contact: (301) 504-7908
Viking Range Corporation Recalls Built-In Refrigerators Due to Injury Hazard; Doors Can DetachWASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.
Name of Product: Viking Built-In Side-by-Side Refrigerator/Freezers and Refrigerators with Bottom Freezers
Units: About 45,326
Manufacturer: Viking Range Corporation, of Greenwood, Miss.
Hazard: The refrigerator’s doors can detach, posing an injury hazard to consumers.
Incidents/Injuries: Viking has received about 57 reports of doors detaching, including four reports of injuries involving bruises, broken toes/fingers, and strains. Also, several incidents of minor damage to floors and counters have been reported.
Description: This recall involves Viking built-in 48-inch wide side-by-side refrigerator/freezers and the built-in 36-inch wide refrigerators with bottom freezers with model and serial numbers with date codes listed below. The refrigerators come in stainless steel and various colors and wood finishes and are built into the kitchen cabinetry. "Viking" is written on the front of the refrigerator. The model and serial numbers are located either behind the produce drawer or on the ceiling of the interior of the refrigerators. The 42-inch wide or freestanding refrigerators are not included in this recall.
Model Numbers Starting With
Date Codes
VCSB481, VCSB482, DDSB482, DFSB482DTSB482, DDBB362, VCBB360, VCBB362DFBB362, DTBB362, DTBB363
All units
VCSB483, DDSB483, DFSB483, DTSB483
Date codes before 030104
VCSB483D, DDSB483D, DFSB483D
Date codes before 030105
VCBB363
Date codes before 111605
DDBB363
Date codes before 112305
DFBB363
Date codes before 041006
The first six numbers in the serial number are the manufacture date of the unit in [mm][dd][yy] format, e.g., serial number 051903G0000000375 was manufactured on May 19, 2003 and serial number F01250210170 was manufactured on January 25, 2002.
Sold by: Appliance and specialty retailers nationwide from July 1999 through April 2006 for between $4,725 and $6,400.
Manufactured in: United States
Remedy: Consumers with recalled refrigerators should contact Viking immediately to schedule a free in-home repair. Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled refrigerator if the door isn’t sealing properly, is sagging, or fails to open and close properly. If the door is functioning properly, consumers may continue to use the refrigerator until it has been repaired.
Consumer Contact: For more information, contact Viking toll-free at (888) 345-2650 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday or visit Viking's Web site at http://www.vikingrange.com/consumer/lifestyle/design_inspiration.jsp?id=cat12640023
CPSC is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about it by visiting https://www.cpsc.gov/cgibin/incident.aspx
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The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270. To join a CPSC e-mail subscription list, please go to https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx. Consumers can obtain recall and general safety information by logging on to CPSC's Web site at http://www.cpsc.gov/.

Submitted by Bermuda Bob on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 12:21am.
If I had a buck for every customer who told me they wanted to upgrade their kitchen to Pro-Style and asked about Viking, I'd be rich !!!
Truth be told, Viking has a long history of overreaching and buying into having a total Viking Kitchen, to which I have always started out by saying the "... no one can be everything to everybody ... it is always best to do what you do what you do best ..."
There are also numerous stories on how some of the TV Chefs, the most prominent being Emeril, signed ridiculously long term contracts with Viking to supply their TV Kitchen Appliances and how they would do anything to rid themselves of that colossal mistake ...
Even "Iron Chef America" has had serious failures on-camera with Viking products ...
Whenever my clients steadfastly refuse to take my good-advice and choose a variety of other manufacturer's offering, I ask them to sign something that sez that they made their decision ignoring my advice ... I do this because they will never recall that they were advised against their purchase and I prefer not to be victimized by selective recollection whereby they conveniently forget my tutelage ... I refuse to be a door-mat when I always strive to do the absolute best for my clients !!!

Submitted by Appliance Stallion on Wed, 06/24/2009 - 1:23pm.
As I have said. Manufacturers of the high end have not used Viking as the model for achievement for product performance. However that rustic look and the Marketing arm sure are the winners for Viking. Hats off to the Marketing strategies. If they get the rest right ,watch out.Bob I think they can be a full service supplier of the entire kitchen. They just need to segment the engineering and manufacturing skills to a different level on the varied products. Probably separate divisions. Ego probably prohibits that.

Submitted by rllingstne on Sat, 06/20/2009 - 12:14am.
There is no question that Viking should have pulled the chute a little sooner. I have to wonder if the proud owners of the origianl Amana B136CAR3 have also been notified. this situation reminds me of a certain refrigerator manufacturer that refused to acknowledge that flames in your kitchen should be reserved for your range and not the back of the fridge. A few years ago, word on the street was that the special at the next trade show was going to be a free fire extinguisher with every fridge..............................

Submitted by twittee on Thu, 06/18/2009 - 11:33pm.
Its rather simple why they waited until number 57. They needed a failure rate of 1/8 of 1 percent. 56 was .124% and 57 was .126%. That last 2/1000th caused an Actuary to throw himself off the top floor of the Corporate offices in Greenwood.


Submitted by advisor on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 10:16pm.
6 years ago, you saw and knew about the problem, and one assumes Viking did too, yet 2006 production still had the problem. 6 years ago the Viking fix was case by case by case never reaching out to all users until today, 6 years later. The problem was fixed on a "need" basis, you say. A "need" basis is a method to quietly fix the products without damaging the brand, or making the papers. It is more focused on protecting the brand, and saving money than protecting consumers and saving lives.......though one imagines you would really have to work at it to get killed.Sure, this might be old news, but actually, that's the worst part of this story.

Submitted by Appliance Stallion on Thu, 06/18/2009 - 12:28pm.
You understand the business quite well. Viking , for all of the things they do should have handled this in a more appropriate manner. A more responsible concern for all of it's customers.This is how business gets the tag irresponsible and greedy...unfortunately.

Submitted by kona on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 1:32pm.
Agree with old iron man. This is old news. What is news, and what AA has appeared to miss is that Viking sold 45,000 of just these couple of models through 2006. That's the real eye opener to me. Why would Viking want to get out of that business (especially if they solved the problem 3 years ago)?

Submitted by old iron man on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 5:43pm.
Viking has had a fix for all the units for many years. Squeaky wheel gets the grease. All units on dealers' display floors were updated. Units in the field were done on a "need" basis. Customer complaint resulted in updated hinges installed in the home at no charge. Old Iron Man

Submitted by old iron man on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 11:37am.
Is anyone really surprised ? If you have been in the premium appliance biz for any amount of time, you know about Viking's refer door issues...not new. Sold them 6 years ago...had the problem then...no new news here. The Old Iron Man

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