Early today, Whirlpool Corp. announced a recall involving some 1.7 million Maytag dishwashers. An electrical failure in the dishwashers’ heating elements can pose a serious fire hazard. 12 incidents of fires resulting from this failure have been reported, but no injuries have been reported thus far.

This recall includes Maytag®, Amana®, Jenn-Air®, Admiral®, Magic Chef®, Performa by Maytag® and Crosley® brand dishwashers with plastic tubs and certain serial numbers. The affected dishwashers were manufactured with black, bisque, white, silver and stainless steel front panels. The brand name is printed on the front of the dishwasher. The model and serial numbers are printed on a label located inside the plastic tub on a tag near the left side of the door opening. Serial numbers will start or end with one of the following sequences:

The men and women who provide support on FixYa are some of the most talented and dedicated people you’ll ever meet, and many have been recognized throughout their lives for their excellence. One of the new additions to the FixYa Team stands out, even among his highly-decorated peers, for his exceptional number of awards and commendations.

Kel1guy2002, otherwise known as Kelly, was born in Creston, Iowa. His father worked alongside Kelly’s grandfather in his shop, ‘Brown’s Garage’. Kelly joined his father and grandfather in the shop around age 6, acquiring new knowledge and experience every day. By age 8, Kelly was repairing lawn mowers, learning to weld, and driving tractors around his grandfather’s farm. At 10, he built his own mini-bike, soon to be followed by a go-kart and several other projects he refers to as “experimental”.

When Kelly graduated from high school, he went to work as a welder for the Lenox Division of Hoover Ball Bearing Tote Systems. There he redesigned the construction methods of several fertilizer sprayer tanks, increasing production from 3 to 10 tanks a day and earning Kelly his first professional recognition as a ‘Top Welder’ for Tote Systems.

Over 1 million baby slings made by Infantino were recalled today after claims linking them to the deaths of three infants. Both the Infantino SlingRider and the Wendy Belissimo Sling are being recalled. The Consumer Product Safety Commission says that babies can potentially suffocate in the soft fabric slings. The agency urges parents to stop using these slings for infants under 4 months of age.

The slings, which wrap around the chest and shoulders of parents, are popular because they allow the parent to carry their infant very closely, fostering bonding. Infantino , based in San Diego, isn’t the only maker of these slings. Earlier this month, the Safety Commission issued a broad warning about sling-style baby carriers, due to the potential risk of suffocation.

Honda has recently joined the ranks of major automakers plagued by a slew of recalls. Earlier today the automaker announced the expansion of an earlier airbag recall. The recall now extends to 438,000 new vehicles. Affected models include some 2001 and 2002 Accord, Civic, CR-V, and Odyssey models.

This recall is due to dangers caused by the airbag inflators, which can place too much force on the airbag when deployed. This can fracture the inflator and producing metal shards. So far this has resulted in 12 incidents, including one fatality.

One of the great things about FixYa’s large group of Experts is that many of them have led very illustrious careers, and are highly placed in companies and organizations of interest to the technical support sphere. So when very major events, such as Toyota’s recall of 5.3 million vehicles makes the news, our Experts are often in a position to give us some real insight into what’s going on behind the scenes.

One such Expert is Toyota Ed, an award-winning Service and Customer Relations Manager at his Toyota dealership. Having worked with Toyota for years, Ed has unique insight into the situation. He set the record straight about the current recalls and the actual scope of the problem, showing that consumers needn’t panic.

Ed started by saying that “the current situation that Toyota is experiencing with the alleged sticking accelerator pedals has been grossly exaggerated,” and went on to explain the situation to us:

The truth is that there are two different manufacturers of the accelerator pedals- Denso and CTS. CTS is the manufacturer of the alleged defective unit, and is installed in roughly 50% of the vehicles produced in the US only. The Denso pedal has not been found to have any issues whatsoever.