Bosch vs Whirlpool dishwashers: an incident-report comparison

What this Bosch vs Whirlpool comparison is based on#

There is a symmetry in this table that is worth pointing at before anything else. The control board is named 21 points more often in the Whirlpool record than in the Bosch one. Wiring or the power cord is named 21 points more often in the Bosch record than in the Whirlpool one. Two components, two identical margins, opposite directions.

The evidence is 303 CPSC SaferProducts incident reports naming a component on a Bosch [dishwasher](/blog/repair-or-replace-dishwasher) and 137 doing the same for a Whirlpool, both filed between 2011 and 2026. Every figure below is a share of one brand's own filings, and never a share of machines built or sold — the database counts neither.

The symmetry, unpacked#

Whirlpool's record is led by the control board at 49%, which is 67 filings and close to half of it. In Bosch's record the board is also prominent, at 28% — 84 filings — but it shares the top of that column rather than owning it.

Bosch's record is led by wiring or the power cord at 29%, which is 87 filings, a point clear of its board row. In Whirlpool's record that component is 8%, or 11 filings.

So the same two components sit at the top of both columns; what differs is how the weight is distributed between them. Bosch splits it almost evenly. Whirlpool puts most of it on one.

The third row, and the one that is nearly empty#

The heating element is the page's other real difference: 9% of the Whirlpool filings against 1% of the Bosch ones, 8 points. That is 12 reports against two. The Whirlpool side is thin but present; the Bosch side is close to unattested, which is a different statement from low.

Below that the two records are quiet in the same way. The motor is 2% for Bosch against 4% for Whirlpool, five filings against six. The drain pump or hose is a single filing in each column, and the table marks it as one-report noise. Neither record has anything of substance beneath its third row.

What the shape supports#

For a Whirlpool dishwasher the filed record points at one place, and for a Bosch it points at two. That is the practical output: a Whirlpool that will not start or has lost its panel is in the region that dominates its record, while a Bosch in the same state is in a region that shares the top with cord and wiring complaints.

None of this ranks the machines. Both columns count filings and neither counts units in service, no public source states how many of either brand are installed, and the corpus over-represents incidents with a safety dimension — which lands on the wiring and heating rows in both columns by the same mechanism.

Bosch vs Whirlpool dishwashers: what the reports mention#

Both columns are shares of their own corpus, and the corpora differ in size. Bosch: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Bosch dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=303. Whirlpool: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Whirlpool dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=137. A difference no larger than one report on either side is marked "within one-report noise".

About the corpus: these are CPSC SaferProducts reports — incidents someone chose to report, not units sold — so the shares on this page are shares of the reports and never a failure rate. The corpus is weighted toward safety events: 12,007 of its 20,581 records (58%) are fire, smoke, burn or melt reports, which over-represents the components that burn and under-represents the ones that merely stop working.

Bosch dishwashers: the reported component split#

Bosch dishwashers — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Bosch dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=303.

Shares of reports, not failure rates — see the corpus note above.

Whirlpool dishwashers: the reported component split#

Whirlpool dishwashers — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Whirlpool dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=137.

Shares of reports, not failure rates — see the corpus note above.

How to use these numbers#

What this comparison can settle: which components the reported incidents of each brand actually concentrate on, for this appliance. What it cannot settle: which brand fails more often. That would need units sold, and no public source states it. Use the component split to plan for the repair each brand is most reported for, not to rank the two.