How to report an exploding casserole dish

Casserole dishes that shatter into flying fragments. Sneakers that make people topple down stairs. Barbecue grills that set houses on fire. These reports, and 21,000 others, are part of the catalog of horrors and mishaps reported by consumers to the federal agency in charge of ensuring that the stuff we buy doesn't kill or injure us.

Manufacturers and retailers tried to stop the Consumer Product Safety Commission from creating the public report database, warning that it was inviting scurrilous and phony accounts that would perpetually besmirch their reputations.

Those arguments prompted the CPSC to allow the companies 10 days to respond before posting a report, but it didn't stop the saferproducts.gov database from going live in March 2011.

So far, the manufacturers of these kinds of products appear to have survived the long overdue forum, and the world of consumer goods probably has gotten safer as a result. Similar consumer reports about banks will go public on a federal website soon, despite similar warnings of doom from the Financial Services Roundtable, headed by former Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

"There were a lot of fears that have not materialized," said Alex Filip, a spokesperson for the CPSC. "That speaks to the care with which Congress drafted this."

Of the 21,290 reports published from 2011 through midday Friday, 405 came from Minnesota consumers. None is named. Yet they have some alarming stories to tell. The most vivid accounts show how a simple act — microwaving some potatoes, stepping on a step stool, revving up a snowblower — becomes a moment they will never forget.

The most recent report Friday came from a Brooklyn Park resident who reported that the "front pane of glass in our Frigidaire gas range exploded." There were no known recalls on the range. Contacted by the CPSC on Sept. 12, the manufacturer did not respond.

Once the casserole arrived at its destination, "my sister-in-law took it out of the insulated carrier, and set it on the table. About 5 min. later, I heard a strange noise. Just as I looked to see where the noise came from, the casserole EXPLODED in front of my eyes. It shattered thousands of pieces of glass all over the table and floor. Not only was the food made inedible, my niece and my sister-in-law were cut by the glass."

The woman got her money back. The maker, World Kitchen LLC, asked for pieces of the hazardous hot dish so it could do a forensic investigation, but also included tips on how to prevent "thermal breakage" in the future.

Filip said firms respond about a third of the time.

Target, for example, has a generic response, and a request to resolve the problem privately: "Target is committed to providing high quality and safe products to our guests. We take all product safety concerns very seriously. Please contact Target at 1-800-440-0680."

Other companies point the finger back at the consumer.

Guerrilla Painter LLC defended its product and said the artist should have read the directions. "She was using it in windy conditions that our labeling and instructions specifically warn about and … she had not released the safety latch designed to keep the ground stake from being pulled out of the ground in the event of a heavy wind gust."

A consumer report on saferproducts.gov has prompted only one lawsuit so far, which Filip thinks is a pretty good record.

It may be hard for companies to hear customers say their products burst into flame, deliver electric shocks or lacerate fingers. If they don't listen, that's when the story will get really scary.