What this LG vs Samsung comparison is based on#
One of these two corpora is eight times the size of the other. The CPSC SaferProducts database holds 192 incident reports filed against LG refrigerators between 2011 and 2026, and 1556 filed against Samsung refrigerators over the identical window. Both counts are reports — submissions from owners, agencies and manufacturers — and neither is a count of units sold, shipped or still running in a kitchen.
One component dominates one of these corpora#
The Samsung corpus has a centre of gravity that is hard to miss: the ice maker is named in 46% of its 1556 reports, more than every other component in that corpus combined. Nothing else there reaches double figures — the control board is second at 5%, the compressor and the evaporator follow at 4% each.
The LG corpus is flatter. Its own leader is also the ice maker, at 13% of the 192 LG reports, but the compressor at 9% and the control board at 7% sit close enough behind that the top of the list is a group rather than a single answer. That shape difference, 33 percentage points apart on the ice maker, is the substantive finding on this page.
Reading a small corpus beside a large one#
Corpus size changes what a share can resolve, and the two sides here are not comparable in that respect. A single report is roughly half a point of the LG corpus and a rounding error in the Samsung one, so LG's 3% water valve or line and 2% motor rest on a handful of filings each, while Samsung's 1% entries rest on dozens. Treat the LG tail as directional and the Samsung tail as measured.
None of this ranks the two. A brand with more reports in a federal database may simply have more refrigerators in service, or owners more inclined to file, and this corpus records neither. What it does support is planning: an ice-maker fault is the single most reported thing about either brand's refrigerators, and on the Samsung side it is most of what gets reported at all.
LG vs Samsung refrigerators: what the reports mention#
Both columns are shares of their own corpus, and the corpora differ in size. LG: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for LG refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=192. Samsung: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Samsung refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=1556. A difference no larger than one report on either side is marked "within one-report noise".
| Component mentioned | LG | Samsung | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ice Maker | 13% (24 of 192) | 46% (715 of 1556) | 33 points more often for Samsung |
| Compressor | 9% (18 of 192) | 4% (66 of 1556) | 5 points more often for LG |
| Control Board | 7% (14 of 192) | 5% (72 of 1556) | 2 points more often for LG |
| Thermostat or Sensor | 1% (2 of 192) | 3% (39 of 1556) | 2 points more often for Samsung |
| Water Valve or Line | 3% (6 of 192) | 1% (18 of 1556) | 2 points more often for LG |
| Drain Pump or Hose | 1% (1 of 192) | 0% (1 of 1556) | 1 point more often for LG (within one-report noise) |
| Motor | 2% (3 of 192) | 1% (23 of 1556) | 1 point more often for LG (within one-report noise) |
| Condenser | 1% (1 of 192) | 1% (18 of 1556) | no measured difference (within one-report noise) |
| Wiring or Power Cord | 1% (2 of 192) | 1% (9 of 1556) | no measured difference (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.
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LG refrigerators: the reported component split#
LG refrigerators — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for LG refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=192.
| Component mentioned | Share of reports | Reports |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Maker | 13% | 24 of 192 |
| Compressor | 9% | 18 of 192 |
| Control Board | 7% | 14 of 192 |
| Water Valve or Line | 3% | 6 of 192 |
| Motor | 2% | 3 of 192 |
| Thermostat or Sensor | 1% | 2 of 192 |
| Wiring or Power Cord | 1% | 2 of 192 |
| Condenser | 1% | 1 of 192 |
| Drain Pump or Hose | 1% | 1 of 192 |
Shares of reports, not failure rates — see the corpus note above.
Samsung refrigerators: the reported component split#
Samsung refrigerators — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for Samsung refrigerators, 2011-2026, n=1556.
| Component mentioned | Share of reports | Reports |
|---|---|---|
| Ice Maker | 46% | 715 of 1556 |
| Control Board | 5% | 72 of 1556 |
| Compressor | 4% | 66 of 1556 |
| Evaporator | 4% | 58 of 1556 |
| Thermostat or Sensor | 3% | 39 of 1556 |
| Motor | 1% | 23 of 1556 |
| Condenser | 1% | 18 of 1556 |
| Water Valve or Line | 1% | 18 of 1556 |
| Wiring or Power Cord | 1% | 9 of 1556 |
| Defrost System | 0% | 3 of 1556 |
| Heating Element | 0% | 2 of 1556 |
| Drain Pump or Hose | 0% | 1 of 1556 |
Shares of reports, not failure rates — see the corpus note above.
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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.
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