9 Of The Biggest Refrigerator Recalls In America

Most people check the expiration date on their milk, but how many check whether their fridge itself has been recalled? Not many. Recalls hardly get the same attention as warning labels, and many units stay in kitchens for years after an alert. And it's not because product recalls are rare. Companies have been forced to pull millions of products from shelves, sometimes at enormous financial cost. This may be due to bad wiring, faulty components, poor designs, and even regulatory violations.

Refrigerators are no exception, with recalls including everything from electrical fires to choking and laceration risks. What makes them different from most recalled products is how often we use them. A recalled blender might sit untouched in a cabinet for weeks. A refrigerator runs nonstop, so any defect isn't something you can put off.

On that note, here are some of the biggest refrigerator recalls in the country, covering everything from full-size refrigerators to compact minifridges.

On March 10, 2009, Maytag, a Whirlpool Corporation-owned brand, recalled 1.6 million refrigerator units; the recall also affected several of its other brands, including Jenn-Air, Magic Chef, Crosley, Amana, and Admiral. In August of that same year, the recall was expanded to include another 46,000 units. The cause? A fire hazard. The relay responsible for engaging the compressor could have an electrical failure. At the time, Maytag received 41 reports of the relay igniting, and roughly 40% mentioned property damage, from smoke to kitchen damage.

Choosing to repair the refrigerator rather than replace it is always a choice, and Maytag specifically told owners not to take it back to the store where they bought the unit. Instead, they should verify whether their side-by-side or top-freezer unit is covered by matching the model and serial number against the recall list on the company's website. Owners of covered units can then get a free in-home repair directly from Maytag.

Curtis International, the multinational brand behind RCA, recalled 634,000 Frigidaire minifridges in July 2025. The units were sold at Walmart and Amazon for about $36 to $40. The problem was a short circuit in its electrical components. Once it sparked, the surrounding plastic housing could burn. Reports showed the total damage from the incidents crossed $700,000, with at least two people dealing with smoke inhalation.

Unlike the Maytag recall, where the company promised to repair the devices, Curtis International opted to refund the customers. The affected units covered in the refund process were models with the following serial numbers: EFMIS121, EFMIS129, EFMIS137, EFMIS149, and EFMIS175, produced between January 2020 and December 2023. Owners of defective units had to unplug the unit and cut the power cord, mark "RECALL" on the door with a permanent marker, photograph the unit, and send the photos to receive their refund.

The Electrolux Group pulled roughly 389,000 side-by-side refrigerators from the market, with the vast majority sold in the U.S. and about 5,800 units in Canada. The units, built in Mexico, were recalled after the slim ice‑bucket assembly was found to crack and shed plastic fragments that could drop into dispensed ice. Those plastic fragments posed laceration and choking risks, and the Electrolux Group had already received 343 reports at the time of the recall. Out of these reports, two involved actual injuries when dispensing from the ice bucket. 

Users whose refrigerators were fitted with the defective slim ice bucket component were told to contact the Electrolux Group for a replacement. This offer was only available to people who bought specific side-by-side refrigerator models sold between November 2015 and September 2019. Customers with an affected unit could contact the group via email or submit a request on their website.

On June 2, 2022, Electrolux announced a recall of roughly 374,700 refrigerator units, including about 367,500 in the U.S. The units being recalled were 13 Frigidaire models and one Electrolux model of side-by-side, top-freezer, and multi-door refrigerators sold on Frigidaire's website, Home Depot, Lowe's, and other appliance stores. These units retailed between $1,200 and $4,300. But they were shipped with a defective ice maker. Specifically, the ice level detector posed a choking hazard. It could break, and the loose fragments could end up in the ice bucket. Consequently, Electrolux logged 185 reports about the defective component, including one report of minor gum cuts.

The company urged owners to stop using the affected units and to turn them off. They offered to install new ice makers for free and asked users to reach out to connect with a technician to replace the plastic ice level detector with a polypropylene ice level detector.

Curtis International already recalled over 600,000 of these minifridges in 2025, but in 2026, it had to recall another 330,000 units. The added units were red, retailed for about $30 at Target, and were sold between January 2020 and October 2023. The company recalled these minifridges on January 15, 2026, after receiving multiple reports that the product posed a serious fire hazard and had already caused some property damage but no injuries at the time. The EFMIS121 model was included because, like earlier units, its electrical switch could short-circuit, overheat, and ignite the plastic housing, leading to fires and burn incidents.

Just like last year, Curtis International decided to refund rather than replace the defective internal components. Owners had to verify eligibility by matching the model and serial number, then submit photos through the recall website to process the claim. Once their claim was approved, owners were told to unplug the unit, cut the power cord, and use a marker to write "Recall" on the door, take and upload photos, then discard the minifridge. Once they complete these steps, they are mailed a check.

In 2026, Cooluli, a Brooklyn company, announced a recall covering roughly a quarter-million of its 10- and 15-liter minifridges sold via Amazon and its own site between January 2019 and October 2024.

Small enough to sit beside a couch, the miniature design of these fridges makes them one of the coolest gadgets to change your TV experience. The recall, announced on August 13th covered the China‑made units after 19 reports linked them to overheating, melting, or fire. At the time, the fridges were responsible for about $80,000 in property damage, plus one report of smoke inhalation. The problem was traced to a short circuit in the electrical switch of these mini fridges, which caused them to overheat, melt, and, in the more serious cases, catch fire.

The affected units include batch numbers that fell between 1535 and 1545, and 1200000 through to 1202080, and were part of the Vibe, Glow Beauty, and Classic series. Once owners verified their batch number, they could reach out to Cooluli for a free repair kit. The kit included a new DC power cord and a sticker designed to permanently cover the AC port.

In June 2025, AstroAI announced a recall covering roughly 249,100 of its 4‑liter (six‑can) minifridges that it sold through Amazon and its own website. The minifridges sold for around $40. Shaoxing ShangYu North Electron Manufacture made them in China, and AstroAI brought them into the U.S. The recall was due to faulty electrical components, one of the most common problems with mini fridges. CPSC said the switch could short, which can cause the mini fridge to overheat, melt, and lead to burn and fire incidents. Of the 70 reports received by the CPSC, two mentioned fires that caused significant property damage that cost more than $360,000.

AstroAI advised customers to stop using its minifridge with the model number LY0204A and serial numbers that start with 19, 20, 21, 2201, 2202, and 2203. The model and serial numbers appear on the label, typically along the middle‑right edge or near the bottom. Owners who confirm they have an affected unit should contact AstroAI, submit a photo showing the model and serial numbers, and also submit a photo of the fridge with 'RECALLED' marked on the door. Once verified, AstroAI initiates a replacement shipment.

In 2022, GE Appliances, one of the leading made-in-America refrigerator brands, recalled 155,000 refrigerator units in the U.S. and another 2,300 sold in Canada. Six models from its stainless steel refrigerator lineup were being recalled as the door handles on the freezer compartments were coming loose and posed a fall risk. At the time of the recall, 71 reports had been made, 37 of which had caused injuries. The affected units were manufactured between February 2020 and August 2021 and were sold from February 2020 through January 2022 at Lowe's, Best Buy, The Home Depot, and other stores in the U.S., both walk-ins and online.

General Electric scheduled a free in-home repair for the affected units; customers need to check the label on the top left side of their unit to confirm it has one of the recalled model and serial numbers, then contact General Electric to schedule a technician to repair the defective door handle.

The Amana recall is the oldest on this list, dating back to the 1970s. In a joint release with the CPSC, the American company said it had exhausted all means of reaching owners of the affected products. Amana had given instructions to 96,000 owners on how to fix the defect, and the first joint recall announcement in 1977 already said about 240,000 units were covered by the voluntary repair program. However, there were still people who had not modified their unit — 144,000 of them — and this was Amana's way of reaching out to them so they could have the defect fixed.

The affected products were side-by-side refrigerator-freezers produced between February 1969 and September 1974. These units featured a defective hinge wire assembly that powered the anti-sweat heater and the butter keeper heater, which was responsible for the reported shock hazard. To have this issue resolved, customers with Amana models SR17, SR19, SR22, SR25, SD19, SD22, and SD25 that had serial numbers that began with the letters IS, E, B, L, A, or C were instructed to contact the company to receive new instructions or have their unit repaired for free.