Risk of gas blasts with Bosch ovens

ABOUT 880 Bosch gas cookers are thought to be in use in South Africa‚ despite the fact they have been found to be at risk of exploding.

BSH Home Appliances has placed adverts in three daily newspapers and in the Sunday Times warning of the potential risk of explosion related to the connecting pipes on a freestanding Bosch gas cooker produced between August 2006 and October 2011.

“In certain circumstances‚ gas can escape [from the connecting pipe] and in an uncontrolled manner and in extremely rare cases a risk of explosion can arise‚” the safety notice warned in early April.

It was placed in two Afrikaans newspapers three weeks later.

But of the 1 000 affected stoves sold in South Africa‚ the owners of just 120 of them have responded‚ and had the gas nipple and the blank-off cap of their stove’s connector replaced at no cost.

That leaves 880 potentially explosive Bosch stoves in operation almost two months later.

BSH Home Appliances communications manager Elizabete Nelson said: “Our call centre is contacting customers with the affected models.”

The explosive problem was first identified last year‚ the affected stoves having been sold in many countries around the world‚ including 11 sub-Saharan African countries.

In October‚ the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a recall notice for 600 affected appliances in that country.

Asked why BSH was not calling the initiative a recall in this country and what role the National Consumer Commission (NCC) was playing‚ Nelson said BSH had labelled it “a repair action campaign” and that the NCC had been informed and was being kept up to date.

“Perhaps calling it a recall was an Australian government requirement‚” she said. “We are trying to obtain more information.”

There had been no reports of the particular model exploding or malfunctioning in South Africa‚ she said.

For more information about the recall‚ call BSH on 0800-999-332.