GE vs Maytag dishwashers: an incident-report comparison

What this GE vs Maytag comparison is based on#

Most pairs in this set differ by inversion — one brand's leading component is the other's afterthought. This pair differs by degree. The same three components sit at the top of both records, in a slightly different order, separated by single-digit and low-double-digit margins.

The evidence is 433 CPSC SaferProducts filings naming a component on a GE [dishwasher](/blog/repair-or-replace-dishwasher) and 228 doing the same for a Maytag, both between 2011 and 2026. Both columns are deep enough that every row above 2% rests on real counts, which is what makes a comparison of degree possible at all — small differences only mean something when the underlying numbers are firm.

The same three components, differently weighted#

GE's record leads with the heating element at 33%, which is 141 filings, followed by the control board at 17%, or 74 filings, and wiring or the power cord at 5%, or 23.

Maytag's record leads with the control board at 25%, which is 57 filings, followed by the heating element at 23%, or 52, and wiring or the power cord at 13%, or 29. The top two are close enough there that their order should not be leaned on.

Read across, the heating element differs by 10 points in GE's favour, the control board by 8 in Maytag's, and wiring or the power cord by 8, also in Maytag's. Three gaps, none of them dramatic, all of them backed by dozens of filings on each side.

What "a comparison of degree" is worth#

It is worth less than a headline and more than nothing. No component here is characteristic of one brand and absent from the other, so a reader cannot use this page to say what a GE dishwasher does that a Maytag does not. What the numbers support is a difference in emphasis: heat is a third of GE's record and a little under a quarter of Maytag's, while the board and the wiring take a larger share of Maytag's.

The practical consequence is a shared shortlist. For either machine the same three components account for most of what has been filed, and the ordering between them is a matter of proportion rather than of presence.

Where the two records go quiet, and the limit that stays#

Below the third row both columns are thin and close. The motor is named in 2% of the GE filings and 3% of the Maytag ones. The thermostat or sensor and the water valve or line round to almost nothing on the GE side — one filing each out of 433 — against 1% on the Maytag side, which is three filings each. The table records those as one-point differences, and they are the rows where both records agree there is little to say.

The limit that survives all of this is the same one that opens every page in this set. Both columns count filings, not machines. No public source states how many dishwashers of either brand are in service, so a share cannot become a rate no matter how firm its count. And because the database is weighted toward fire, smoke, burn and melt reports, components that can overheat are over-represented in both columns by the same mechanism — which is worth remembering on a page whose largest row is a heating element.

GE vs Maytag dishwashers: what the reports mention#

Both columns are shares of their own corpus, and the corpora differ in size. GE: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for GE dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=433. Maytag: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Maytag dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=228. 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.

GE dishwashers: the reported component split#

GE dishwashers — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for GE dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=433.

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

Maytag dishwashers: the reported component split#

Maytag dishwashers — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Maytag dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=228.

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.