A coroner has raised safety concerns about a Hoover tumble dryer following the death of a father and his nine-year-old daughter in a house fire, warning that 1.6 million machines may share the model's characteristics.
Sohaib Ahmed, 38, and his daughter Manahal died following a blaze at their home in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, on June 8 2025, according to a report issued by coroner Martin Fleming. In a prevention of future deaths report, Mr Fleming outlined how an inquest in July "found more likely than not that the source of the fire in the kitchen was a DX C10DCER-80 Hoover branded condenser tumble dryer, albeit that the specific mechanism and circumstances of the ignition within the dryer remain undetermined and unclear".
Coroner's concerns over future deaths
The coroner added in his report that the inquest "raises concerns" that "circumstances creating a risk of future deaths may continue" should the model and its safety implications not be "further examined".
The coroner said: "The above raises concerns that unless the model… and any wider product safety implications are further examined, circumstances creating a risk of future deaths may continue. It is my understanding that the Office for Product & Safety Standards (OPSS) has received a significant number of product fire notifications from the fire services across the UK involving this model.
"Of concern is that 1.6 million of current Hoover & Candy branded condenser or vented tumble dryers may share this model's characteristics." The coroner continued: "I also heard that two experts have described how this particular type of tumble dryer may burn almost completely once the fire becomes established, making later identification of the initiating defect extremely difficult."
Uncertain cause of ignition
Mr Fleming found that it could not be determined whether the ignition resulted from tracking, defective solder joint, heater relay failure or another internal electrical failure, and has left him concerned that "that this may indicate a potentially serious mechanism failure that cannot be identified from available evidence, and therefore cannot be readily prevented".
He wants the company to consider investigating the model and similar incidents "with a view to identifying any recurrent failure modes, alteration to the design, issue of technical service bulletins or a recall or safety campaign". And he wants the company to "consider whether it is appropriate that the sales of the model are halted" pending this analysis.
The coroner outlined how a neighbour became aware of smoke coming from the house on Russell Close at about 6.06am and firefighters arrived at 6.19am. Mr Ahmed was immediately found unresponsive behind the front door, along with another of his daughters who was seriously injured in the blaze but survived. Manahal was found on the floor in a rear first floor bedroom.
Company response
In its response to the coroner, the firm Haier outlined a range of testing it had done on the model involved, which ceased production in 2022, and other similar models.
The company said in its letter to Mr Fleming: "Taken together, and subject to the completion of the final activities described above, this analysis and testing gives us confidence that the potential failure mechanisms you were concerned with do not exhibit a widespread, replicable or systemic safety issue within the various Infinity, pre Infinity and EOLO condenser tumble dryer models that are similar to the model you considered."
The firm said it has looked at safety incident data and "there has been one other safety incident that may have involved model DX C10DCER-80, but this could not be determined with certainty and that incident appears to have been caused by lint ignition from an inadequately cleaned filter and/or condenser".
The response concluded: "In these circumstances, we have determined that it is not appropriate to halt sales of the DX C10DCER-80 model, or other similar models. We hope that you are reassured that this is reasonable but we do wish to emphasise that we will continue to monitor for risks and take appropriate corrective action when appropriate."
A spokesperson for Haier said on Wednesday: "We remain deeply saddened by this tragic event and extend our deepest sympathies to the Ahmed family and all those affected. We have taken the issues raised in the coroner's report very seriously. We have undertaken a detailed review of the issues raised and provided a comprehensive response to the coroner, which we asked to be, and which has been, published in full."
