(WXYZ) - Many people have a slow cooker and the majority of those slow cookers are Rival crock pots. They've cooked millions of great meals over the years, but more and more owners these days are complaining about a potentially dangerous problem.
Laurel Jones loves to cook. She especially loves slow cooking with her rival crock-pot. But while cooking stew beans one day...
"Went to remove the handle to give it a stir, and the lid fell off the handle into the pot!" says Jones.
She says the glass lid fell down into the boiling beans, nearly splashing her with scalding liquid. She called Rival, and since it was under warranty they sent her a new pot. But not long after she got it, the lid broke again.
Frustrated, Jones went online, where she found a whole community of people with broken handles.
"I Googled a little bit and found hundreds of people with the same problem," Jones says.
Jones also found advice on a two-dollar fix with a bolt, nut, and lock washer. She fixed it herself.
We contacted Rival and learned that if your pot is less than a year old, you may qualify for a new one.
Out of warranty?
--You can order a new lid and handle for $15 for most models. i
--If you bought your pot before 2004 it may be included in a recall for defective side handles.
--There is no recall for broken top handles. And that leaves Jones concerned.
"The design is faulty, and someone is going to get burned, I'm afraid," she says.
Rival's media relations department says it is looking into these latest complaints about broken handles and may have more information for us in the near future. In the meantime, if your pots handle starts feeling loose, be extra careful so you stay safe.
