Is your Sub-Zero, Wolf, Viking or Monogram under a recall?

How do I check my own appliance?

Start with the tag. A recall is drawn by model number and serial number, not by the name on the door, and two ranges that look identical can sit on either side of the line. Where the model and serial tag is on each maker. Look only when the appliance is cool.

Then the search. At cpsc.gov/Recalls, type the maker’s name. Each result opens a notice with the models, serial numbers or date codes, hazard, remedy and a phone number. On a Viking the first six digits of the serial number are the day the unit was built, so CPSC’s own example, 082421C10019872, is a range made on August 24, 2021.

Third, the maker’s own page, where a changed phone number will be current: Important Recall Information on subzero-wolf.com, for Sub-Zero, Wolf and Cove; Recall Safety Information on vikingrange.com; GE Safety Recall on geappliances.com, Monogram included. Then call with both numbers and ask two things: whether your serial number is in the recall, and whether the remedy is already on record for it.

SaferProducts.gov is CPSC’s public database of reports: anyone can read what other owners have filed about a product, or file their own. CPSC’s hotline is 800-638-2772. An empty search means no recall has been announced for that model, and nothing more.

Who does a recall repair, and who pays?

The maker, on both counts. CPSC describes remedies as typically a refund, a repair or a replacement. In the nineteen notices here it is nearly always a free repair in the home, booked through the maker’s recall line. The exceptions: Sub-Zero’s was a free installation inspection, Viking replaced the toaster, and the two GE dishwasher notices offered a rebate on a new machine as an alternative.

The notices also say who does the work. CPSC’s notice for the 2022 Viking ranges specifies a free repair by an Authorized Service Provider, arranged through Viking, and Sub-Zero’s answer on the Cove dishwashers sends owners to Cove Factory Certified Service. We are neither. A recall remedy does not pass through an independent company: there is no recall work we can perform, claim or charge for.

Age does not close a recall. CPSC’s own answer is that there is usually no end date, and that an owner who learns of one a year or more later should still follow the notice. Viking’s page still carries its 2009 recalls and GE’s its 2005 one. The older Wolf and Sub-Zero notices are not on Sub-Zero’s page today; for those, ask the maker’s customer care.

What we can do is narrower. Call with the model, the serial and what the machine is doing. If the fault matches a recalled condition on these lists, a Viking oven that came on by itself, a Wolf griddle that came on unexpectedly, a Viking refrigerator door that sags, we tell you so and give you the maker’s number. Otherwise it is an ordinary repair: the diagnostic visit is $119 for the first appliance and $69 for each additional appliance on the same visit, both waived if you go ahead with the repair. Repairs on these four makes with the genuine parts we supply carry our 12-month warranty on parts and labor.

Can I sell a recalled appliance?

CPSC’s answer is no. Section 19 of the Consumer Product Safety Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2068, makes it unlawful for any person to sell or offer for sale a consumer product subject to voluntary corrective action taken by the manufacturer in consultation with the Commission, when the Commission has notified the public of that action or the seller knew or should have known of it, and CPSC’s page on stopping the sale of recalled products applies that section to recalls directly.

And it is written for owners as well as stores. The same page tells a consumer reselling old products, online or in person, that it is illegal to sell any recalled product and that knowing a product’s recall status is the seller’s responsibility. CPSC’s page for resale and thrift stores says its laws apply to anyone who sells or distributes consumer products, people holding yard sales included. So check the model and serial against the notices before a used range is listed.

Two things those pages do not settle. One is the appliance that has already had its recall repair: in our view the sensible course is to have the remedy done and keep the maker’s paperwork with the machine, but its standing is for the maker and a lawyer to say. The other is the built-in that stays with a house when the house is sold. A buyer can at least run each built-in’s model and serial through the list before closing. What else to check on a built-in before you buy the house. This section reports what CPSC and the statute say; it is not legal advice.