WFAA-TV

Manufacturers have known about the problem for decades, says Stephanie Moran.

With open flames and hot pans, the kitchen stove is a major safety concern for parents.

But did you know most stoves can be easily tipped over by a small child, sometimes burning or killing them?

It's a danger manufacturers have know about for more than 20 years and yet the problem continues.

Jamie Hamblin has a lifetime of memories playing with his older brother.

But one, in particular, really left its mark.

Jamie was still in diapers, his mom was boiling a pot of chicken on top of the stove.

When Jamie's older brother stepped up on the stove door, the whole thing tipped over and the boiling pot fall on Jamie.

"By the time I got his diaper off his skin was already starting to peel off his body," said his mother Stephanie Moran.

The incident burned Jamie on a quarter of his body.

He spent a month at Parkland Hospital, recovering from two skin graft surgeries.

The family settled out of court with Sears which sells 800,000 stoves a year.

Sears declined to comment.

But through the legal process, Jamie's mom says she learned the manufacturer knew about the dangers of tipping but because of cost, chose not to improve the stove's top-heavy design.

"I didn't know this could happen. I never thought about my stove tipping over. These people did know. And they didn't do anything about it," said Moran.

At a Dallas salvage yard we discovered how little effort it takes to tip a stove over.

San Antonio attorney, Dan Sciano, says he's represented more than 100 victims.

"The hazard's been well known in the industry for decades," he said.

Government numbers show at least 33 people have died when a stove tipped over.

Manufacturers have voluntarily agreed to install inexpensive brackets that secure a stove to the floor but, in reality, industry records show they're rarely installed.

Sciano recommends a breakaway door strong enough to support a turkey but not the weight of a child.

No installation required. "All those brackets that don't get used. Guess what? Throw them in the garbage can because you don't need them anymore."

But the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers says: "Manufacturers provide the safety device and several specific warnings and instructions about its importance. It is up to the installer and consumer to act."

The Washington DC consumer-rights group, Public Citizen, says it's time for the government to act.

First, by forcing retailers to go back and install safety brackets on all existing stoves.

"I believe there needs to be a mandatory federal standard that says these stoves have to be redesigned so that they don't tip over and you don't have to install a bracket," said the organization's Joan Claybrook.

Manufacturers say when properly installed and operated, the stoves are safe.

And yet, just last year, the government says two small children were killed crushed by a falling stove.

"They know about all these, and they won't fix them," said Moran.

Home Depot says it attaches anti-tip brackets free when customers request range installation.

Lowe says it asks whether customers want brackets installed and mounts them free.

E-mail dschechter@wfaa.com.