Forty-five people have reportedly been injured by their Thermomix cooking appliance, with the company now accused of blaming the victims and downplaying the danger posed by the device.
Advocacy group Choice has sent a mass incident report citing 87 Thermomix complaints to the Australian consumer watchdog calling for the ACCC to investigate.
Of the 45 people who were injured some 18 required treatment from nurses or doctors and eight were hospitalised.
One victim was treated in a specialist burns unit for three weeks.
Choice received 83 complaints regarding the TM31 model which was recalled in October 2014.
Customers reported permanent scarring from Thermomix failures yet many were told "user error" was to blame after they notified the company, Choice head of media Tom Godfrey said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr Godfrey said Thermomix should have reported issues to the federal consumer affairs minister on at least 10 occasions following customer injuries.
Thermomix on Thursday said it was aware of the allegations contained in the Choice report.
"The safety, welfare and support of our customers is, and always has been, our highest priority," the company said in a statement, adding it had always co-operated with the ACCC and would continue to do so.
CHOICE MASS INCIDENT REPORT:
* 87 reports of problems with a Thermomix product
* 83 for the TM31 product and four regarding the TM5 product
* In 45 reports a consumer was harmed
* 18 people reported having to receive treatment from a doctor or nurse
* Eight people were hospitalised
* Six of those were treated in a specialist burns unit
* 12 people were harmed before the October 2014 TM31 recall
* 18 people were harmed after the recall but were using the green sealing ring supplied to rectify problems
* 53 people complained to Thermomix Australia and only five people were happy with the resolution
* 33 cases of ongoing issues with their machines
* 26 near-miss cases of spitting or exploding hot liquid.
Source: Choice
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