The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the recall of 165,000 Vitamix 64-ounce low-profile blender containers. An additional 4,300 containers are being recalled in Canada. The blade inside these containers can break, creating a laceration hazard to consumers. Vitamix has received 18 reports of blades breakage, none causing injuries.
The recall involves Vitamix 64-ounce low-profile containers sold at major retailers and online at vitamix.com from April 2012 to August 2013. The containers came with Vitamix models 7500, Professional Series 300, and Professional Series 750; some were also sold individually. Affected models have blade part number 103208 A and blade date codes 03-12 through 07-13 laser etched onto their blade. The website containerbladerecall.com, set up by Vitamix, provides additional information and photos.
If you own one of the recalled blenders, stop using it immediately and contact Vitamix for information on obtaining a free repair. You can either go to vitamix.com or call the company at 888-350-4386 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturdays.
The Vitamix Professional Series 750, Vitamix 7500, and Vitamix Professional Series 300 all earned excellent overall scores in our Ratings, and are on Consumer Reports' current recommended list of blenders. They made very good smoothies and superb purées. They also aced our durability test, which involves crushing seven ice cubes 45 times to simulate long-term use. We recently judged the Calphalon XL 9-speed blender a Don't Buy: Safety Risk because a knife-sharp fragment broke off from the same place on the blade assembly on three samples of this model. But no such issue arose with the Vitamix blender.
Vitamix assures us that the problem has been fixed with all models currently for sale in stores and online. Therefore, we are continuing to recommend these Vitamix blenders, though we have added a footnote to the blender Ratings for consumers who may already own an affected model.
It's worth noting that all blenders are a potential safety hazard, given their exposed blades. In fact, more than 7,000 people were injured by blenders in 2011, based on emergency-room treated injuries reported to the Consumer Products Safety Commission. To stay safe, never put your hand inside a blender, especially if it's plugged in. And instead of hand washing, add soapy water and run the blender until the container and blades are clean, then unplug the device and rinse the container under the faucet.
—Daniel DiClerico
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