Viking to Pay $450,000 Civil Penalty for CPSC Citation

The Viking Range Corporation will pay a $450,000 civil penalty for failing to report defects in its refrigerators.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the agreement Tuesday.

The CPSC had alleged Greenwood, Miss.-based Viking was aware for years of a defect involving its refrigerator door hinge support mechanisms that resulted in incidents and injuries to consumers but failed to report immediately to CPSC as required by federal law.

Viking reported the safety defect in April 2009 and recalled more than 45,000 refrigerators in June 2009. The CPSC says Viking was aware of at least 10 reports of injuries involving refrigerator hinge failures going back over several years.

Viking sold the refrigerators through appliance and specialty retailers from July 1999 through April 2006.

Viking did not admit to any wrongdoing.