3 sourced reports, with what to check before you buy. Each one links to the page it was reported on.
2 of these reports describe a fire, explosion or shock risk.
Costly or dangerous
Defective electronic component in control panel can overheat and cause fire (2002 Siemens tumble dryers)
Safety risk
This is the manufacturer BSH's own voluntary safety notice (10 Sept 2014) for Siemens tumble dryers built Jan-May 2002. It names a defective electronic component in the control panel that can overheat and, in extremely rare cases, cause a fire. BSH reports about 100,000 affected appliances (majority sold in Germany) and 26 reports of smouldering fires in Germany with no injuries. The fix is a free on-site repair by a service technician; until then the dryer should only be run supervised and not overnight. This is the core fire finding for the 2002 Siemens dryer series and applies to the EU market.
Swiss regulator ESTI confirms 2002 Siemens dryer overheating/fire safety warning
Safety risk
The Swiss Federal Inspectorate for Heavy Current Installations (ESTI), via the Federal Office for Consumer Protection, published this safety warning on 1 Oct 2014 in cooperation with BSH. It independently confirms the same defect: a limited number of Siemens dryers built Jan-May 2002 can overheat due to a defective control-panel electronic component, with an extremely rare potential fire risk. Free home repair is offered, and affected units should only be run under supervision and not at night. This corroborates the manufacturer's notice from an official regulator source.
Hong Kong regulator names affected model WTXL2100EU and batch numbers FD8201-FD8205
Hong Kong's Electrical & Mechanical Services Department (12 Sept 2014) issued a consumer alert for the Siemens tumble dryer model WTXL2100EU with batch numbers FD8201-FD8205, sold in Hong Kong Jan-Oct 2002, warning they may overheat and catch fire and urging consumers to stop using them. This gives the concrete model and batch identifiers for the affected 2002 series, useful for checking whether a specific unit is covered. Note this is the Hong Kong market, not EU/TR, but it identifies the same 2002 defect with specific model/batch codes.
These reports come from the pages linked under each item: owner forums, repair guides and workshops. They are not a diagnosis of any one unit, and a careful check of the one you are buying still applies.
Text from the Kriko Tumble dryers catalog, version 0.1.1, under the CC-BY-SA-4.0 license.
