Over 400 Glass Oven Doors Shattered This Past Year — This Popular Brand Is Behind Most Of Them

Despite their power, kitchen ovens are generally considered a worry-free appliance. Sure, you have to check your oven's temperature accuracy from time to time to ensure your roasted chicken dinners and fruity chocolate cakes will cook as they should. But aside from a little general maintenance, there's not much to fret about. 

Unfortunately, some ovens have a major defect that makes them decidedly unsafe. Between January 2025 and March 2026, nearly 400 people had the pants scared off of them when the glass door on their ovens spontaneously shattered (per Consumer Reports). Over 40 people sustained injuries in that timeframe. 

Several appliance manufacturers have been reported as having this occur, but it seems to be far more common with Frigidaire than any other brand. 263 of the incidents reported were from folks who owned a Frigidaire oven. GE, Whirlpool, LG, and Samsung were also behind some of the complaints, but the number of glass-shattering incidents for those brands was significantly lower than Frigidaire's — GE came closest, with 63 reported incidents.

The worst part is that nobody seems to know why this is happening. The companies listed above issued statements to Consumer Reports regarding the complaints, but none offered a concrete explanation as to why it was happening in the first place. Surprisingly, Frigidaire was actually brazen enough to imply that customer misuse could be the culprit behind the incidents, which one person who experienced the glass-shattering catastrophe described this way: "It sounded like a small bomb went off" (via Consumer Reports).

One of the most concerning aspects of the complaints is that the episodes often occurred when the oven had been off for some time, even days in some cases. Samsung, which had 10 reported incidents, has offered to get the doors replaced at no cost to the customer. Still, out of all the major brands people experienced this issue with, none offered a compelling explanation as to why it was happening.

Electrolux, which manufactures Frigidaire appliances like dishwashers that are plagued with bad reviews, mentioned that tempered glass can sometimes have flaws that might cause this issue. But it also suggested that customers damaging the appliance within the first year of ownership could be behind the problem. That implication doesn't hold much water, as only about 3% of the 400 reports happened within the first year of having the oven. Most of the complaints noted that the oven was four to six years old.

Electrolux recommended that consumers not attempt to close the oven door until the racks are fully secured inside and not to scratch the glass with their cookware. In fairness, people often view ovens as appliances that can take a beating, so there's a valid point in this advice. Still, if the glass can potentially shatter after getting a bit scraped up with a pan, that's an issue the manufacturer should be striving to fix before hawking ovens they are now well aware have a problem.