Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US Warns Samsung Washing Machine Owners After Explosion Reports (cnn.com)

Posted by msmash on from the deja-vu dept.

Samsung may have a new problem on its hands, and it feels too familiar. The U.S. regulators on Wednesday warned users of certain top-loading Samsung washing machines of safety issues following reports that "some have exploded." CNN reports: The warning, from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, covered machines made between March 2011 and April 2016. It did not specify a model. The commission suggested people use only the delicate cycle to wash bedding and water-resistant and bulky items because the lower spin speed "lessens the risk of impact injuries or property damage due to the washing machine becoming dislodged." The agency said it is working with Samsung on a remedy.

20 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. Samsung's business is Booming! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'll be here all week, folks!

    1. Re:Samsung's business is Booming! by tripleevenfall · · Score: 2

      Wait, I'm not supposed to wash my Galaxy Not-

    2. Re:Samsung's business is Booming! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I was going to buy one, but I think I will wait for the fire sale

  2. Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by 8127972 · · Score: 2

    ..... needs a complete overhaul as catching bugs are the least of their problems.

    --
    This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
    1. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by Obfuscant · · Score: 4, Informative
      This isn't a "bug". It's a case of an overloaded drum being spun at high speed creating forces that the drum cannot handle after some use.

      Anyone who has used a top loader knows that it needs to be at least somewhat balanced when it goes into spin mode. The problem is certain kinds of "washables" that aren't distributing themselves around the drum and instead stay lumped up and heavy.

      Try suing a centrifuge manufacturer when it self-destructs after you've put something in only one of the slots. That's that this is.

    2. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by cnaumann · · Score: 5, Informative

      So why doesn't it detect the imbalance and reduce speed or shut down? Pretty much every washing machine I have owned does this.

    3. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by lgw · · Score: 4, Informative

      Any halfway-decent washing machine will detect such an extreme imbalance and shut down. Any washing machine that is so shoddily built that it can actually "explode" (not just damage itself) due to an unbalanced load shouldn't be legal for sale in the US.

      Exploding batteries. Exploding washing machines. I'm going to keep a safe distance from my Samsung TV.

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
    4. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by olsmeister · · Score: 2

      Hmmm. I don't know. Is this machine connected to the internet? Perhaps it became infected with Stuxnet.

    5. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by Obfuscant · · Score: 3, Informative

      The front loading ones seem to be more robust....

      Front-loaders spin around a horizontal axis, which means that when they start to spin the load is subject to gravity to assist in distribution around that axis. As it rotates, some things fall to the bottom, some stick to the side. As the speed increases, more things stick.

      There is no similar distributive force in a top-loader. The lump at the bottom is pushed to the outside as soon as the tub spins and it sticks where it is.

    6. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Considering your UID, that's unlikely. Most if not all of the machines from the 80s and 90s were dumb. They'd walk across the floor if the load's unbalanced.

    7. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 5, Informative

      Considering your UID, that's unlikely. Most if not all of the machines from the 80s and 90s were dumb. They'd walk across the floor if the load's unbalanced.

      Uhhhh....my mother's Kenmore washing machine (bought back in the late 70s) had an out-of-balance detector on it that would stop the motor and sound a VERY loud buzz when the machine was out of balance and would not continue until the condition was resolved.

      I call bullshit or very shitty machine design...

      --
      You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
    8. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by amiga3D · · Score: 2

      You can actually watch through the door and see this process in action. Sometimes I like to just sit and watch it go round and round and rou......

    9. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by ctw181 · · Score: 2

      I have a Panasonic front loader washing machine that weighs the load before it starts to load water. Perhaps Samsung should build in the smarts needed to stop these things happening. In the early nineties Samsung television sets were going up in flames due to carbonisation of the adhesive used to hold components in place. ten years ago they were creating expensive two door fridges that just never worked properly due to half-arsed electronic control. LG is a good example of another useless company that only just saved itself by changing its name from Goldstar after creating junk electronics since it was incorporated.What this is is a washer that isn't smart enough to save itself from the tyranny of poorly loaded washing. It reminds me of their robot vacuum cleaner that, unlike the iRobot Roomba that has a flat top surface, has a "space-age" looking form with sloping top edges... that gets stuck under the first lounge chair it encounters. Time to stop apologising for pathetic product testing and call it what it really is... really poor product design and execution.

    10. Re:Clearly Samsung's QA department..... by Trax3001BBS · · Score: 2

      . Although I bet in this case Samsung just went too cheap on the drum material, it probably develops stress fatigue and eventually fails. These new washers spin really fast.

      There are four rods that attach to the bottom of the drum then to the top of the washer frame.
      Unbalanced one or more of the rods slip out of their top retainer.

  3. Re:North Korea by unixisc · · Score: 2

    Actually, Samsung is now preparing to shift its headquarters from Seoul to Pyongyang, and change its identity from a South Korean company to North Korean. Its labor force will be a lot cheaper, being North Korean, and it will get to blow both LG and Hyundai out of the water. Kim Jong Un will be a new investor in the company, which will no longer be listed on the South Korean exchanges

  4. Did not read warning label by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Funny

    Do not wash Samsung Note 7 phones in your new Samsung Washing Machine. They are not compatible.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  5. Re:Has Samsung joined ISIS!? by DickBreath · · Score: 3, Funny

    How BIG is Samsung? (They Have a Military Department!)

    Do their explosives explode?

    (Some world maps mistakenly mis-label Samsung as "South Korea")

    --

    I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  6. Blame it on the translators by phorm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Samsung's management originally stated that they wanted their products "built to last"

    However, somebody typo'ed the translation as "built to blast"

  7. and in related news by rossdee · · Score: 5, Funny

    A number of airlines have announced they will ban passengers from having Samsung washing machines in their carry-ons

  8. Re:Typical USA by Desler · · Score: 2

    So true. Corporations should never be held accountable for their products. That's practically communism.