If you recently bought a loved one (or yourself) a Bissell vacuum for the holidays, you might want to take a closer look at which one, exactly: Some popular models were just recalled due to risks of overheating, posing a fire hazard and even causing some injuries.
On February 1, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall of more than 140,000 Bissell vacuums sold at major retailers, including Lowe’s, Macy’s, Target, Walmart, and Best Buy. According to the release, there have been 17 reports of the vacuums smoking and emitting a burning odor. Six of those reports revealed that the battery pack actually caught on fire, resulting in minor property damage for three consumers and minor burn injuries for two others.
The specific product in question is Bissell’s Multi Reach Hand and Floor Vacuum Cleaner, which includes the listed model numbers below. (To ID yours, check the product rating label located behind the dirt tank. Also, you’ll see “Multi Reach” printed on the hand vacuum part.)
- 1985
- 19851 (also called Multi Auto)
- 19859
- 1985T
- 2151
- 21512
- 21513
- 21517
- 21518
- 21519
- 2151A
- 2151T
- 2151W
- 2151V
If any of the above are sitting in your hallway closet, the CPSC urges you to stop using it immediately. Then, contact Bissell for instructions on how to get a free replacement and how to properly dispose of the old battery. In case you didn’t know, you can’t throw out damaged—and therefore potentially hazardous—lithium-ion batteries in the trash, as the CPSC noted in the release. This guide from the Environmental Protection Agency can also teach you how to safely get rid of defective batteries.
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