Sharp Corp. reported Thursday that one of its washing machines caught fire and gutted a house in Saitama Prefecture in 2002 and its washers were to blame for 18 other fire incidents, and offered free repairs for some 520,000 machines. The Osaka-based electric home appliance maker said the Saitama fire and 14 other incidents between 2001 and 2006 were linked to the small ES-42 automatic washing machines. None of them caused injuries. The company had offered free repairs of these washing machines in April 2002 and again in January 2004, the latest offer, because of four incidents since that month. The company needs to check 205,163 units of the ES-42 model, of which it has already inspected 55,165 units.
The electronics giant said it will inspect 206,497 units of its ES-50F1 washing machine model and 109,944 of its ES-56GS model and fix them if needed.Sharp produced 205,163 ES-42 machines, including those sold through retailer Ryohin Keikaku Co., between 1998 and 1999.
