"When I look at my hands and I think about that being a child's face. That just scares me. I'm afraid somebody could be blinded by this," said Vanover of Cheyenne, Wyo.
Vanover says the glass sprayed 18 feet outside of her kitchen into her living room. Nothing was left of the glass lid in the sink except a stainless steel rim.
"It hurt a lot and it was just scary. I mean, it was just strange," said Vanover.
Even stranger; on another day, another lid exploded from the same Wolfgang Puck cookware set. Vanover had just washed the dishes and left the room to let them dry when she heard it blow up.
"I heard literally what sounded like an explosion. I came into the kitchen and there was glass everywhere," said Vanover.
She asked the company to pay for her $122 medical bill and the $100 cost of the cookware. The producer, WP Productions in Hollywood, Florida, agreed to refund her $222 as long as she signed a release form that absolved the company of any responsibility. She refused and the company did not refund her money.
"I just in good conscience can not sign this because I want them to do something about this product," said Vanover. "I absolutely know this product is unsafe. Not just unsafe, it's dangerous. It's very dangerous."
In a statement to 9NEWS, Wolfgang Puck says he's sold more than 20 million glass lids with few complaints.
"In many cases, the broken glass lids are due to either consumers dropping the lids or misuse," said Wolfgang Puck. (Click here to read the entire statement.)
The manufacturer also blames the problems on consumers.
"Most of these cases are error on the part of the customer," said Jonathan Swartz, vice president of WP Productions. "Our tests show they meet specifications and exceed the standards of the industry as it relates to glass lids. If they were defective, they wouldn't let us sell them."
Vanover doesn't buy that explanation.
"I don't know how you can misuse a lid. I used it for what it was intended for," she said.
The Wolfgang Puck Stainless Steel cookware set is sold at Sam's Clubs and on the Home Shopping Network. There are several internet postings from customers about the lids that read, "Danger-exploding lids!" "Watch out-lids shatter!" and "Beware!"
Three people have complained to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission about the lids, including Mike Byrne of Los Angeles California. His wife was standing over the stove cooking spaghetti for dinner in the summer of 2006. When Byrne came home, he turned her around to hug her. At that moment, the lid shattered.
"The lid on the pasta exploded," said Byrne. "It shattered into a million little pieces. Half of the glass fell into the pot with the lid and the pasta and the rest of the glass was all over the stove and all over the floor."
Byrne says it was fortunate his wife had her back to the stove when the lid exploded. They wrote to the company about the problem. It sent them a new lid, a set of steak knives and an autographed picture of Wolfgang Puck which they hung in the kitchen to remind them not to stand too close to the stove when cooking.
"We're still using the cookware and I don't know if that's the smartest thing in the world, but we did file a complaint about it," said Byrne.
9NEWS asked a glass expert to check if the lids were made of tempered glass or annealed glass. The general manager at Glass-Inc in Denver, John Folino, broke several Wolfgang Puck cookware lids to determine that they are made of tempered glass.
"When it breaks, it breaks into tiny little pieces rather than big shards like annealed glass," said Folino. "Annealed glass is very dangerous. The edges that break are like razor blades."
He says tempered glass is four times stronger than regular annealed glass. Folino says tempered glass can explode if it's put under duress or stress. He checked the Wolfgang Puck lids by smashing them with a hammer.
"To me, it looks really, really tight and that could be why it did blow up," said Folino.
The cookware is made in China, according labels on the bottom of the pots and pans.
Vanover thinks the product should be recalled. But Wolfgang Puck stands it.
"I am just scared to death this will hurt somebody very badly," said Vanover.
