43
CPSC NEISS Data 2005–2024

Refrigerators

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.

Kitchen Cooking Appliances · CPSC Code 276

Stable over 5 years

The verdict

Refrigerators carry a danger score of 43/100 (moderate risk), driven by roughly 40,695 ER-treated injuries a year that are roughly flat over the last five years.

43/100
danger score (moderate risk)
40,695
ER visits per year (avg)
8.5%
end in hospital admission
75+
most-injured age group

Every figure is rendered from the CPSC NEISS record for product code 276 - last data year 2024.

PlainSafety danger score

0/100100/10043/100
PlainSafety danger score

Source: CPSC NEISS danger-score model As of 2024

How this 43/100 score is built

The score is computed from four CPSC-derived factors for refrigerators - no opinion, no editorializing:

  • Injury volume40,695 ER visits/yr
  • Severity (hospitalization rate)8.5%
  • Fatality rate0.02%
  • 5-year trend-3%

See the full methodology for the exact weighting of each factor.

What the CPSC Data Shows

Refrigerators (CPSC product code 276, in the Kitchen Cooking Appliances category) generate an estimated 40,695 emergency-room visits every year in the United States, adding up to roughly 813,909 ER-treated injuries across the 20-year span from 2005 to 2024. PlainSafety derives a danger score of 43/100 for this category (moderate risk), combining raw injury volume, demographic reach, severity of outcome, and multi-year trend. The five-year trajectory shows that injury counts are roughly flat over the last five years, with the busiest year on record being 2024 (46,869 estimated ER visits) and the quietest 2006 (31,878 estimated visits).

The single most common ER diagnosis for refrigerators is internal injury to the head, accounting for approximately 81,454 visits across the 20-year NEISS window, followed by strain, sprain to the lower trunk (58,777 cases). The 75+ age group absorbs the largest share of injuries, about 131,344 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 8.5% of ER visits involving this product end in hospital admission or transfer, and a small fraction (0.02%) result in fatality.

Beyond the hospital-sampled NEISS projections, this page also aggregates 3,417 consumer incident reports filed directly on SaferProducts.gov, plus 20 anonymized ER narratives - together forming a layered picture of how refrigerators 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.

40,695
Injuries / Year
8.5%
Hospitalization Rate
0.02%
Fatality Rate

Annual Injury Estimates (2005–2024)

30K35K40K45K50K 20052008201120142017202020232024 47K
Estimated annual emergency-room visits for Refrigerators, CPSC NEISS

Source: CPSC NEISS national injury estimates As of 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 25,657 18,881 44,553
5-14 25,601 21,286 46,887
15-24 69,417 36,512 105,980
25-34 77,520 46,290 123,838
35-44 70,521 41,878 112,454
45-54 59,649 43,745 103,394
55-64 38,842 36,950 75,792
65-74 24,492 45,178 69,670
75+ 36,831 94,513 131,344

Most Common Injuries

Body Part Diagnosis Est. Injuries
Head Internal Injury 81,454
Lower Trunk Strain, Sprain 58,777
Hand Fracture 41,175
Lower Trunk Other 37,008
Hand Contusions, Abr. 33,151
Finger Laceration 31,218
Head Laceration 24,120
Face Laceration 23,433
Lower Trunk Fracture 20,929
Upper Trunk Other 18,341
Foot Contusions, Abr. 16,518
Head Contusions, Abr. 15,758
Shoulder Strain, Sprain 15,241
Head Concussion 13,193
Hand Laceration 12,575

Severity Breakdown

Treated/examined And Released 88.8% (722,798)
Treated And Admitted/hospitalized 7.8% (63,864)
Left Without Being Seen 1.5% (12,550)
Held For Observation 0.9% (7,498)
Treated And Transferred 0.9% (7,024)
Fatality Incl. Doa, Died In Er 0.0% (185)
Unknown, Not Stated 0.0% (16)

ER Visit Narratives

Real anonymized emergency room reports from the CPSC NEISS database.

Age 13 · Female · Head · Internal Injury · 2024

13 YOF FELL HIT HEAD ON REFRIGERATOR DX: HEAD INJURY

Age 44 · Male · Upper Arm · Strain, Sprain · 2024

44 YOM INJURED UPPER ARM MOVING A REFRIGERATOR DX: STRAIN

Age 76 · Male · Head · Internal Injury · 2024

76YOM WAS LIFTING A CASE OF BEER INTO HIS REFRIGERATOR WHEN HE HAD A SYNCOPAL EVENT AND FELL STRIKING HIS HEAD DX:CLOSED HEAD INJURY, ADMITTTED FOR SYNCOPY

Age 61 · Male · Upper Trunk · Contusions, Abr. · 2024

61YOM FROM HOME HAD A TRIP AND FALL STRIKING CHEST ON A MINI REFRIGERATOR DX: CONTUSION TO RIBS

Age 21 · Female · Toe · Fracture · 2024

21YOF SLIPPED ON PUDDLE OF WATER ON THE KITCHEN FLOOR LEAKED OUT FROM UNDER REFRIGERATOR AND STUBBED LEFT THIRD TOE ON REFRIGERATOR DX:FRACTURED TOE

Age 33 · Female · Lower Trunk · Strain, Sprain · 2024

33YOF SUDDEN ONSET RIGHT LOW BACK PAIN AFTER LEANING FORWARD TO OPEN THE FREEZER ON HER REFRIGERATOR DX: BACK SPASM, LUMBOSACRAL STRAIN

Age 48 · Female · Toe · Fracture · 2024

48YOF,FOOT ACCIDENTALLY HIT BOTTOM OF REFRIGERATOR AN TOE BENT SIDEWAY,DX:TOE FX

Age 71 · Male · Lower Trunk · Fracture · 2024

71YOM SAYS HE SUSTAINED FALL AT HOME GETTING POP OUT OF FRIDGE & HE FELL BACKWARDS & HIT LOW BACK , PT WENT TO UC YESTERDAY FOR XRAY OF BACK & THEY SAID NO FRACTURES THEN DOCTOR CALLED HIM TODAY & SAID HE SHOULD GO TO ER , THAT HE HAS FRACTURE TO LUMBAR BACK DX FALL, CLOSED COMPRESSION FRACTURE L5 VERTABRA

Age 76 · Female · Lower Trunk · Other · 2024

76YOF PT REACHING INTO FRIDGE & TWISTED TO THE LEFT, DEVELOPED SEVERE LOW BACK PAIN DX: LOW BACK PAIN

Age 78 · Female · Head · Internal Injury · 2024

78YOF HAD GROUND LEVEL FALL AT HOME IN KITCHEN, PT TRIPPED & HIT HEAD & NECK ON REFRIGERATOR , PTS DAUGHTER HEARD FALL & CAME TO PTS AID, PT RETURNED TO BASLINE W/ IN 60 SECONDS DX FALL

Age 56 · Male · Lower Arm · Hematoma · 2024

56YOM, HAS RESIDUAL ARM PAIN FROM RECENT MOTOR VEHICLE ACCIDENT WHICH WAS IMPROVING UNTIL YESTERDAY WHEN HE LIFTED UP A REFRIGERATOR AND FELT SUDDEN ONSET OF PAIN IN THE LEFT FOREARM, DX: MUSCLE STRAIN OF LEFT UPPER ARM; FOREARM TENDONITIS; SPONTANEOUS HEMATOMA FOREARM

Age 35 · Female · Toe · Avulsion · 2024

35YOF, ACCIDENTALLY STUBBED TOE AGAINST THE FREEZER NOW THE NAIL IS LIFTED OFF IT'S BAD, DX: INJURY OF GREAT TOE NAIL

Consumer Incident Reports

Reports filed by consumers on SaferProducts.gov.

9/9/2025 · No Incident, No Injury · LG Electronics, USA · Virginia

LG Refrigerator ice maker line freezes and causes leak. Damage to floor and leaks are as lip hazard and leaks to lower floor near electrical boxescan cause electrical damage. It has been repaired, but continues to happen due to no permanent fix from LG

9/9/2022 · Incident, No Injury · SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC. (SEA) · California

My Samsung refrigerator has never worked properly and it has worked even less after a Samsung technician came and replaced the ice maker and twin cooling system. The refrigerator will not stay cold. Then, we started finding plastic pieces in our ice. These are pieces that have broken off inside the ice maker and are making it into our drinks. Thankfully the biggest piece was found in my drink and not one of my toddlers.

9/9/2021 · Incident, No Injury · WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION · Michigan

Within the first month of owning the refrigerator, it stopped maintaining the appropriate temperature. This has caused food to spoil on numerous occasions over the past few months, because the problem is repetitive. 9/7/2021: The consumer called the manufacturer and reported the matter to a rep. (name unavailable). That person told him that she would escalate this matter to a higher authority and placed him on hold. The consumer stayed on hold for 60 minutes, before hanging up. No one ever came back to the phone to speak with him. The refrigerator has 4 settings, but does not have a thermostat. The consumer said that the first 2 settings are useless. The 3rd setting is recommended by the manufacturer, in the owner’s manual. However, the 4th setting causes everything in the refrigerator to freeze. He believes that this presents the potential for salmonella. He paid [$1012.00] for the refrigerator

9/9/2021 · Incident, No Injury · SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC. (SEA) · Georgia

We purchased a Samsung Refrigerator a few years ago. This appliance has a manufacturers defect with the inside temperature along with a faulty icemaker that causes bad leaking. The outside computer screen tells us one temperature, but the actual temperature on the inside is much higher. Due to this defect, we have been consuming food that has spoiled, which has been causing us to get food poisoning. We have children in our household and this issue is very unsafe and cumbersome. With sickness and many dollars lost in groceries, I contacted Samsung and they said that the best thing that they can do is offer a free repair of our icemaker, which honestly is very disappointing and not as important as making sure our family is not consuming spoiled food!!! They claim that our refrigerator is out of warranty, but once again this is a known issue/nationwide recall with this manufacturers defect, and we should be fully refunded at this point.

9/9/2021 · No Incident, No Injury · SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC. (SEA) · Illinois

We bought a Samsung refrigerator in 2015 that consistently builds up ice in the back panel until the fan can no longer move. At that point, the fridge temperatures rise to over 50 degrees, spoiling our food. We’ve had to replace ice maker parts and the defrost temp sensor at hundreds of dollars of expense because the warranty is only good for one year. We also had to run the manual defrost on a weekly or even daily basis. Samsung has said they cannot help because it it is out of warranty, but they have thousands of customers reporting similar issues.

9/9/2021 · Incident, No Injury · SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC. (SEA) · New York

Our refrigerator was leaking. It does not maintain correct temperatures at all. It's only 3 years old, and if we leave it plugged in it works for several hours and then stops working. And then it gets scary...the door starts getting really hot, and we are afraid of an electrical fire. We are using it 'til the new fridge arrives by shutting it off at night & when we leave the house, and letting it rest periodically during the day. Samsung gave us terrible runaround and was of no help at all.

9/9/2020 · Incident, No Injury · SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC. (SEA) · Pennsylvania

Samsung refrigerator has been constantly hovering around 46-50 degrees. The freezer section has also thawed all my food twice since July. One time was just after a major meat purchase

9/9/2020 · Injury, Level of care not known · SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC. (SEA) · Ohio

Bought a new Samsung refrigerator 2010 , since then I have had 2 service calls, and have had to defrost my fridge every month to keep the back panel from freezing. My refrigerator is constantly at 65 degrees. My grandchildren have gotten sick and I have lost so much money in food well over 500.00$. Under the crisper drawers always have water and leak on my floors. The system runs 24-7 which then ups my electricity bill. Im in the process of trying to find another company to come look at it, because no one wants to work on them.This is a defect in the appliance .

Showing 8 of 3,417 reports.

Product Recalls

Search for active and past recalls related to refrigerators on the CPSC website.

Frequently Asked Questions

How dangerous are refrigerators?

Based on 20 years of CPSC data, refrigerators have a danger score of 43/100 (moderate risk). An estimated 40,695 ER-treated injuries occur annually in the U.S. related to this product category.

What are the most common injuries from refrigerators?

The most common injury is internal injury to the head, accounting for approximately 81,454 injuries over 20 years.

Are injuries from refrigerators increasing or decreasing?

Stable over 5 years.

Who is most at risk for refrigerators injuries?

The 75+ age group accounts for the most injuries, with approximately 131,344 cases recorded over 20 years. Females are more frequently injured in this age group.

What happens when someone is injured by refrigerators?

Of all ER visits involving refrigerators, approximately 8.5% result in hospital admission. The majority of patients (91.5%) are treated and released from the emergency department.

How can I report a safety problem with refrigerators?

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.

Safety Guides

What this means for you

Treat the 43/100 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 75+ 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.