Consumer Reports is doubling down on its warning about a popular portable blender.
CR officials said they have received a “spate of new complaints” about the BlendJet 2 portable blender.
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On Tuesday, CR officials sent a letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission with a second appeal to the federal agency to “immediately investigate potential hazards tied to the product.”
CR first raised the issue over the summer following consumer complaints and their own testing, which indicated the blender may pose risks.
“Consumer Reports is warning consumers that the BlendJet 2 is linked to numerous serious safety concerns reported by its users,” said Ashita Kapoor, CR’s associate director of product safety. “If consumers choose to continue using the BlendJet 2, CR recommends extreme caution to make sure the blades have not broken and the product is not overheating.”
There have been several reports of injuries, including one blender exploding and another of a 2-year-old who turned the BlendJet2 on without its lid and put her hand into it.
“The nature and severity of these injuries were not clear from the complaint,” CR said.
A third complaint reported that the blender started smoking while it was plugged in, and a person burned his finger when unplugging it.
Others reports included blades breaking during use, components melting while charging, the device not turning off, and one case of the blender’s lithium-ion battery catching on fire, according to CR.
“We are aware of recent and prior reports of incidents in which the performance of certain older BlendJet 2 units did not meet the company’s or the consumer’s expectations,” BlendJet spokesperson Ethan Rasiel said via email.
He said customers experiencing these types of BlendJet 2 issues should contact the company through its support page, and that the manufacturer has since modified the blender’s base.
“We hold ourselves to high quality and safety standards and remain dedicated to continuous improvement and evolution of the BlendJet 2,” Rasiel said.
Raisel said customers who purchased a BlendJet 2 after August 2023 should have an updated product.
Consumer Reports said it plans to repurchase and re-evaluate the modified BlendJet 2 portable blender in the coming weeks and will report on the results.