Woman says Pyrex dishes exploded in kitchen

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A Sandy Springs woman says a Pyrex dish exploded violently as she was removing it from her oven.

All that remains is a pile of jagged pieces that used to be her new Pyrex dish.

"I took it out of the oven, I put it on the counter and it went ‘pow’ all over my kitchen. Glass shards everywhere," said Sandy Dallas.

Dallas said just five weeks ago another Pyrex dish exploded inside her oven.

The Pyrex package insert warns a hot dish can cause "personal injury or property damage" if mishandled.

Dallas said she had no idea simply placing the dish on a dry counter could cause it to fail.  She says the counter was neither cold to the touch nor wet, two conditions Pyrex warns against.

"I understand that glass breaks, but when you buy Pyrex, you think it's going to be safe,” said Dallas.

Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Jim Strickland found hundreds of complaints online for Pyrex products. Consumers Union counted more than 100 on a government website for safer products.

Pyrex maker World Kitchens didn't return Strickland's messages, but on its site it says compared to the billions of times Pyrex has been used, complaints like Dallas' are rare.

A section of the World Kitchen's site titled "The Truth About Pyrex" claims studies critical of the bakeware contain "serious errors and flaws" and "egregious inaccuracies."

Dallas said five weeks ago an older Pyrex dish also exploded in her oven when she opened the door. Pictures of the incident indicate she didn't even put it on the counter.

Jill Johnson Ward also had a Pyrex dish shatter on her. She didn't keep her shattered dish, but she has the memories of her Thanksgiving Day sweet potato casserole.

"I was looking down to make sure everything was good and it sounded like a bomb. ‘Boom!’ It went all over my hair, all over the floor," Ward recalled.

After complaints dating back years, two scientists from the University of Alabama studied the type of glass from which Pyrex is made and concluded: “It does not appear to be adequate for all household cooking.”

Less than three weeks ago World Kitchens filed a new federal lawsuit against the scientists and the American Ceramics Society, which published their findings.

“I find it very hard that that's their position. I don't understand why they can't recall the product and fix it," said Dallas.

The scientists responded, denying wrongdoing.

WSBTV