What this LG vs Whirlpool comparison is based on#
The control board is near the top of both of these records. In one of them it is the record; in the other it is merely first among three. That distinction — prominent against dominant — is what separates these two columns, and it is not visible from the board row alone.
The evidence is 47 CPSC SaferProducts filings naming a component on an LG [dishwasher](/blog/repair-or-replace-dishwasher) and 137 doing the same for a Whirlpool, both made between 2011 and 2026.
Prominent, and dominant#
Whirlpool's board row is 49% — 67 filings, close to half its record. The next row down is the heating element at 9%. That is dominance: one component with more weight than everything else combined.
LG's board row is 30%, which is 14 filings. The next row down is wiring or the power cord at 28%, which is 13. That is prominence without dominance: the leader is ahead by a single report, and a third component, the motor at 15%, is not far behind.
So the 19-point gap between 49% and 30% understates the difference. What actually differs is whether the leading component defines the record.
The rows that move the other way#
Wiring or the power cord is the page's widest gap, 20 points, and it runs toward LG: 28% of its filings against 8% of Whirlpool's, which is 13 reports against 11. Note the counts — a wide gap in shares between two records of very different depth, resting on similar absolute numbers.
The motor adds 11 points in LG's favour, 15% against 4%, or seven filings against six. The heating element runs 7 points the other way, 9% of the Whirlpool record against a single LG filing, which means unattested on the LG side rather than measured as low.
What each column can carry#
Whirlpool's is legible: its leading row is 67 filings, its second and third are 12 and 11, and its smallest rows are one or two reports inside a corpus of 137.
LG's is thinner. Its top three rows — 14, 13 and 7 filings — establish that the board, the wiring and the motor are what its record is about, and a single report is worth about two points there, so the ordering among them is not something to defend. Below those three the column is single filings.
The limit that neither column escapes is the denominator. Both count reports, no public source states how many dishwashers of either brand are in service, and the corpus over-represents incidents with a safety dimension. A share here describes a record and never a rate.
LG vs Whirlpool dishwashers: 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 dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=47. 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".
| Component mentioned | LG | Whirlpool | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wiring or Power Cord | 28% (13 of 47) | 8% (11 of 137) | 20 points more often for LG |
| Control Board | 30% (14 of 47) | 49% (67 of 137) | 19 points more often for Whirlpool |
| Motor | 15% (7 of 47) | 4% (6 of 137) | 11 points more often for LG |
| Heating Element | 2% (1 of 47) | 9% (12 of 137) | 7 points more often for Whirlpool |
| Drain Pump or Hose | 2% (1 of 47) | 1% (1 of 137) | 1 point more often for LG (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 dishwashers: the reported component split#
LG dishwashers — every share in this table is a share of: CPSC SaferProducts incident reports for LG dishwashers, 2011-2026, n=47.
| Component mentioned | Share of reports | Reports |
|---|---|---|
| Control Board | 30% | 14 of 47 |
| Wiring or Power Cord | 28% | 13 of 47 |
| Motor | 15% | 7 of 47 |
| Compressor | 2% | 1 of 47 |
| Drain Pump or Hose | 2% | 1 of 47 |
| Heating Element | 2% | 1 of 47 |
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.
| Component mentioned | Share of reports | Reports |
|---|---|---|
| Control Board | 49% | 67 of 137 |
| Heating Element | 9% | 12 of 137 |
| Wiring or Power Cord | 8% | 11 of 137 |
| Motor | 4% | 6 of 137 |
| Thermostat or Sensor | 1% | 2 of 137 |
| Drain Pump or Hose | 1% | 1 of 137 |
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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