Electric Clothes Dryers Without Washers
Twenty years of CPSC NEISS emergency-room records for this consumer product category, combined with demographic breakdowns, multi-year injury trends, and matching recall notices.
Laundry & Household Appliances · CPSC Code 106
Down 69% over 5 years
The verdict
Electric Clothes Dryers Without Washers carry a danger score of 27/100 (low risk), driven by roughly 835 ER-treated injuries a year that are declining by about 69% over the last five years.
- 27/100
- danger score (low risk)
- 835
- ER visits per year (avg)
- 4.3%
- end in hospital admission
- 25-34
- most-injured age group
Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 106 - last data year 2024.
PlainSafety danger score
How this 27/100 score is built
The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for electric clothes dryers without washers - no opinion, no editorializing:
- Injury volume835 ER visits/yr
- Severity (hospitalization rate)4.3%
- Fatality rate0.00%
- 5-year trend-69%
See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.
What the CPSC Data Shows
Electric Clothes Dryers Without Washers (CPSC product code 106, in the Laundry & Household Appliances category) generate an estimated 835 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 16,690 ER-treated injuries across the 20-year span from 2005 to 2024. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 27/100 for this category (low risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are declining by about 69% over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2017 (2,181 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2024 (302 estimated visits).
The single most common ER diagnosis for electric clothes dryers without washers is electric shock to the all parts body, accounting for approximately 3,170 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by strain, sprain to the lower trunk (1,235 cases). The 25-34 age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 3,772 cases over the NEISS window, and females appear slightly more often than the opposite sex in that cohort. Severity outcomes from the NEISS disposition field show that 4.3% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer.
Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 225 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how electric clothes dryers without washers fail in real households. Every figure on this page comes from CPSC-published data: NEISS projects national estimates from a probability sample of about 100 U.S. hospital emergency departments, while SaferProducts.gov collects voluntary reports from consumers, manufacturers, and clinicians. The danger score, trend indicators, and demographic breakdowns update automatically when CPSC releases a new yearly NEISS file, which is why this page is dated 2024-12-31. For regulatory context, consult CPSC recall notices and the SaferProducts.gov public database linked below.
Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2024)
Source: CPSC NEISS national estimates CPSC NEISS national estimates Injuries represent ER-treated cases only
Who Gets Injured?
| Age Group | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-4 | 330 | 33 | |
| 5-14 | 131 | 267 | |
| 15-24 | 1,380 | 1,158 | |
| 25-34 | 1,705 | 2,067 | |
| 35-44 | 1,588 | 1,640 | |
| 45-54 | 1,009 | 1,148 | |
| 55-64 | 629 | 620 | |
| 65-74 | 563 | 1,010 | |
| 75+ | 295 | 1,118 |
Most Common Injuries
| Body Part | Diagnosis | Est. Injuries |
|---|---|---|
| All Parts Body | Electric Shock | |
| Lower Trunk | Strain, Sprain | |
| Head | Internal Injury | |
| Finger | Laceration | |
| Hand | Laceration | |
| Lower Trunk | Other | |
| Upper Trunk | Other | |
| Finger | Burn, Electrical | |
| Hand | Burn, Electrical | |
| Head | Concussion | |
| All Parts Body | Anoxia | |
| Upper Trunk | Contusions, Abr. | |
| Shoulder | Strain, Sprain | |
| Elbow | Strain, Sprain | |
| Face | Laceration |
Severity Breakdown
ER Visit Narratives
Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.
14YOF SHOCKED BY A 220 VOLT PULLING DRYER PLUG FORM THE WALL OUTLET AND FELT AN ELECTRICAL SHOCK. DX: ELECTRICAL SHOCK
44 YOM MOVING WASHER AND DRYER, HURT BACK. DX SCIATICA
35YOF, WAS TOUCHING HER WASHER AND DRYER WHEN FELT ELECTRIC SENSATION ACROSS HER MIDLINE AND BOTH ARMS, DX: ELECTROCUTION
43YOF PRESENTS TO THE ED FOR EVALUATION OF LEFT FINGER PAIN. PATIENT JAMMED HER FINGER AGAINST A DRYER APPROX 1 WEEK AGO. DX; FINGER PAIN
55YOF REPORTS RIGHT RIB PAIN AFTER HITTING IT ON WASHER/ DRYER TODAY. DX: RIB PAIN ON RIGHT SIDE
89YOF FELL GETTING CLOTHES OUT OF DRYER AND HIT HER HEAD ON FLOR DX CONTUSION HEAD
38 YOM PICKED UP WASHER AND DRYER THREW THEM IN A DUMPSTER INJURED LOW BACK DX: APIN
34 YOM WAS MOVING ELECTRIC DRYER, DROPPED IT ON TOE DX CRUSH INJURY TOE
68YOF BURN TO HAND WHEN ELECTRICUTING HER HAND ON DRYER DOOR ONE DAY PRIOR. C/O FINGER PAINDX HAND PAIN
19YOF STS AT HOME WAS ELECTROCUTED BY THE DRYER DX ELECTRIC SHOCK
11YOF WAS PLUGGING IN WASHER/ DRYER UNIT AND HAD ELECTRICAL SHOCK. DX: ELECTRICAL SHOCK
55YOM UNPLUGGING HIS CLOTHES DRYER, HE WAS SHOCKED BY 220VOLTS. THROWN BACK. HITTING RT ARM. DX: ELECTRIC SHOCK INJURY, LAC RT LOWER ARM
Consumer Incident Reports
Reports filed by consumers on SaferProducts.gov.
My Bosch dryer just caught on fire and it was not in the vent it was in the back of the drum inside the dryer. It looks as if debris built up behind the drum liner. A warning should be posted. If I was not sitting a few feet away and just happen to hear a strange beep come from the dryer, it could have caught the house on fire.
Maytag MEDC215EW dryer lint filter bypasses a larg volumn of lint due to a gap where the bottom on the screen filternmeets the exhaust plenum of the dryer. This causes the exhaust system of the dryer to build up and plug prematurely causing a fire hazard. Maytag tech sent out and ordered a new screen but new screen is the same az the orig kne. A chat was done with Maytag support and they stated there was no known issue. It appears to be a design flaw
On Friday August 31 2012 my babysitter put a load of clothes in the dryer to dry. Within 5 minutes the dryer was making a strange dryer buzzing noise. She came into the room where the dryer is located and discovered fire shooting out the top console of the dryer around the auto moisture setting dial, ad buzzer dial and a hole with flames shooting out between the dials. She has able to get the fire out and I immediately after and unplugged the dryer. I notified Sears where I bought the dryer. The technician on the phone was surprised when I said the fire was on the top front part of the dryer and not near the lint area or back. He felt the dryer was not repairable but would send a technician out to check. The dryer is a kenmore electric dryer model number 110.69822801 serial number MY1406285. On Wednesday September 5, 2012 a technician from Sears came out and agreed the dryer was gone and not worth repairing. His bosses however feel it should be repaired. I do not feel comfortable repairing this dryer since they are not sure what caused the fire to begin with. There were no injures just alot of smoke burned dryer.
During a dry cycle, the glass door on my unit shattered, resulting in small pieces of glass falling onto the floor and inside the unit. While tempered, this did not prevent all pieces from being small enough to cause risk for harm.
Fire in electric control circuit board in dryer
Circuit board in our electric dryer caught fire, we had this exact same thing happen after 5 years of owning this product. Started smelling burnt plastic and luckily caught it before more damage was done. I had the entire top of the unit replaced at that time with the same GE product and now less than 5 years later we have another fire exactly the same as before. We don't feel safe trying to it repair again.
GE dryer I purchased 26December2021 is a fire hazard; the heating element stays on even when the dryer's drum is not turning. The consumer has to manually turn the control panel knob to the off position in order to turn off the dryer's heating element, otherwise, it stays on until the next use. It is a GE dryer, model GTD45EASJWS. I discovered this hazard about two weeks after the dryer was installed in my house, and on that day, I figured out that the control panel knob needed to be in the off position to turn off the heat. There have been no injuries to date, however, somebody else in the household used the dryer this week, forgot to turn the knob off, and the next day, the dryer's room was hot as can be...it is a fire hazard. I discovered today that other consumers know about this, and there are [REDACTED] videos explaining what is causing it (faulty parts).
Samsung dryer drum cracked. This defect occurs because Samsung allegedly uses thin gauge steel in the drums and defective fly wheels. Contacted Samsung and although there are numerous reports and class action lawsuits regarding this all over the internet (including complaints right here on cpsc.gov site), they claim they have no reports of this. It is a dangerous fire hazard and there should be recall! Please help me and others receive compensation or replacement.
Showing 8 of 225 reports.
Product Recalls
Search for active and past recalls related to electric clothes dryers without washers on the CPSC website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How dangerous are electric clothes dryers without washers?
Based on 20 years of CPSC data, electric clothes dryers without washers have a danger score of 27/100 (low risk). An estimated 835 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.
What are the most common injuries from electric clothes dryers without washers?
The most common injury is electric shock to the all parts body, accounting for approximately 3,170 injuries over 20 years.
Are injuries from electric clothes dryers without washers increasing or decreasing?
Down 69% over 5 years.
Who is most at risk for electric clothes dryers without washers injuries?
The 25-34 age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 3,772 cases recorded over 20 years. Females are more frequently injured in this age group.
What happens when someone is injured by electric clothes dryers without washers?
Of all ER visits involving electric clothes dryers without washers, approximately 4.3% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (95.7%) are treated and released from the emergency department.
How can I report a safety problem with electric clothes dryers without washers?
You can file a consumer incident report at SaferProducts.gov, the official CPSC reporting portal. Reports help the CPSC identify emerging hazards and trigger investigations or recalls. You can also call the CPSC hotline at 1-800-638-2772.
Related Products in Laundry & Household Appliances
Safety Guides
What this means for you
Treat the 27/100 score as relative risk between products, not your personal odds of injury.
- See where this category ranks against every other tracked product. Full rankings
- Injuries cluster in the 25-34 age group, take extra care if that describes your household.
- Check for active recalls on this product before you assume it is safe. CPSC recalls
NEISS estimates ER-treated injuries from a national probability sample of hospitals; they do not capture injuries treated elsewhere or not treated at all.
Data: CPSC National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) 2005–2024 and SaferProducts.gov consumer incident reports. Injury estimates are based on a nationally representative probability sample of U.S. hospital emergency departments. This page is for informational purposes only and is not affiliated with the CPSC.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, scored, and verified.
