Warning for owners of glass tables

CANFIELD, Ohio - Popular pieces of furniture, like glass tables, that are made with tempered glass could explode without warning.

A simple online search shows it is a problem that may be more common than you would think. Some glass tables have exploded into thousands of pieces, with nothing contacting them.

It happened to Lisa Friend in Canfield. "We woke up to what sounded like a gunshot going off. We came downstairs and our table was in a million pieces all over the floor and scattered throughout the house," Friend said.

Friend said over an hour after the glass broke, the pieces were popping like popcorn on the floor. She said she bought the table from Value City last year. They offered to replace the table at no charge and she opted for a wooden one this time.

Local glass experts said there could be problems with the way mass produced glass tables from China are made. "Glass that goes through the ovens can have inclusions in the glass, and these are items that will grow over time and eventually can cause breakage, especially in tempered glass," said Jerry Neider, with Youngstown Mirror and Glass Company.

So, a small nick on the glass may be OK for now, but that could lead to a big break later.

It's best to avoid drastic temperature changes on tempered glass. For instance, experts say putting extremely hot items in one spot for a long time is a bad idea.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating tempered glass breakage in tables, showers and oven doors to see if there are patterns in the manufacturing process that lead to problems.