Sunbeam Recalls a Million Crock-Pots Right Before Thanksgiving

It's only the biggest cooking day of the year and I'm sure some people were planning on breaking out their Sunbeam 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cookers to help with the holiday meal. If you do be really careful because Sunbeam has recalled nearly a million of them because of a design flaw.

The problem, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission is that the recalled Crock-Pot multi-cooker can pressurize when the lid is not fully locked. If it pressurizes without the lid locked, the lid can fly off and hot liquid could spray out and cause burns. Currently, there have been 99 reported cases of this happening and the burns range in severity from first-degree to third-degree burns.

I actually have a different brand of one of these "Instant Pots" as their sometimes called. They are basically a pressure cooker that's made safer because they are electronically controlled. They work awesome and I use mine a lot, but the kind I have will not pressurize unless the lid is locked tight.

The recalled Sunbeam multi-cookers were sold in-store and online at retailers including Walmart, Target, Amazon, and other outlets nationwide between July 2017 and this month. They cost between $70 and $100, have date codes K196JN through K365JN and L001JN through L273JN engraved on either the bottom of the base or on one prong of the electrical plugs.

The CPSC says owners of the multi-cooker should immediately stop using it in pressure cooker mode, but they can continue to use it for slow cooking and sauteing. Crock-Pot will send free replacement lids to consumers who contact them.