Well, I must admit this happens to me occasionally but only after I have accidentally left the laundry in the machine for days. I just rerinse and the problem is solved. I don't see this as a manufacturer's issue as much as "operator error".

It isn't operator error -- it is a known design flaw. this is literally the compliant on thousands of users on home and appliance forums.

It has nothing to do with clothes left in the machines, clothes left in machines on top laoders "for days" get smelly too, but users are noticing it on front loaders especially.

what is design problems on the seals, especially front seals as water pools there. Consumer reports may not have noticed it because they probably haven't had a machine in use for say two years.

ChezMoma why are the front loader MAKERS BOASTING this year about mold retardants in front seals if it isnt an issue? It is part of any spiel from salesman so it is coming from sales talking points generated by makers.

Blaming the customers for a known design flaw causing tens of thousands of complaints from people who NEVER had mold in their top loaders is silly.

Wow, that tumble to keep cloths from getting musty smelling feature looks really nice. I read this website where a guy compiled a bunch of LG WM3001HAW customer reviews and was looking into that washer. The LG machines all seem to rate better than their comparable models from other manufactureres, but that washer doesn't seem to have this feature. I am the type who will forget and leave my clothes in the washer over night sometimes, so thi might be a good one to look into. Thanks.

Consumer Reports' reviews of the mold problem in front-loading washers is faulty and far, far from robust. The mold problem doesn't show up after only a few washings. The mold problem exists after a few months because so many of the front loaders fail to drain all the water. Thus water sits in the bottom of the machine and around the door seals. We were told the problem could be solved simply by leaving the door open! Really! Yeah, right, leave the door open to be in your way and for the kids to toss in the family cat. It's absurd! It's not a problem that's going to be solved by any manufacturer any time soon. One "solution" I've heard the industry is considering is to incorporate a heater. That should only add a hundred or more bucks to already over-priced machines. We've gotten rid of our front-loader and bought a beautiful top loader from Sears. ANY top loader washes as well as these front-loaders with all the bells, whistles, and so many flashing lights that Captain Kirk goes into orgasm.

Let's get back to basics, folks. We're talking simple laundry here, not machines you park in your driveway for all the neighbors to admire and envy.

This is not an "operator" issue, however, we solved our problem. First, DO NOT use liquid laundry detergent. The oils in the detergent make it worse. We switched to Tide HE powder and have not had the problem since - that was over six months ago - the problem went away within a couple of days.

No one will address this issue honestly - not the machine or detergent manufacturers. The problem is with the liquid detergent combined with the front end loader design.

I have neighbors and co-workers that all complained about this problem and when they take my advice, it solved their problem - no one is complaining about their laundry anymore and they tell me - as I have discovered - the laundry smells nice and fresh. One more thing - a box of HE powder laundry detergent lasts about twice as long as a bottle of liquid detergent - something else the manufacturers do not want you to know.

Also, we switched to the dryer sheets instead of liquid softener. The liquid detergent combined with liquid softener compounds the problem by a factor of 10 at least!

One more thing - it is important to run a wash cycle through your washing machine with hot water and bleach and no laundry - it doesn't matter if the machine is a top loader or front loader. If you constantly wash heavily soiled clothing, it may be necessary to do this once or twice a month; otherwise, every 90 days is usually sufficient.

Go ask a salesman at an appliance store and they will tell you - 'you are crazy' or 'I never heard of that'. But most sales people do not know the first thing about the maintenance of such appliances and more or less just a hired hand at some big-box store doing what they are told.

The reason none of the manufacturers will admit the problem because the detergent and equipment manufacturers market their products together in many cases. I went to Best Buy the other day and what did I see - bottles of liquid Tide sitting on all of their front loaders.

I agree that this is operator error. Wiping the door and seal after your wash and leaving the door open is all you need to do. Unless you have mold elsewhere in your house, there should be no mold. If there is mold say around your floor drain in a basement, the spores are airborne and will grow anywhere. Also in the drain hose from central a/c or a furnace humidifier may be harboring mold. Check around your house for black or red mold. Use bleach and hot water to kill it. Put a cup or two of bleach in all your drains and dishwasher too. Even the overflow hole on your bathroom sink can have mold in it. Dump some bleach in it. I have had front loaders for years now and have not had a lick of trouble.

I find that I'm very disappointed in the advice from Consumers Reports. Many washing machines rated by the staff have much more positive experiences than those consumers who actually buy them it appears. This seems very dishonest since your testing procedures must obviously be flawed for so many to be having a much different experience most of which are bad. Shame on the manufacturers who are using us and our funds in America for foreign companies to work out those bugs again, at our expense. When this washing machines and dryers were made HERE, there were't these problems. How about some honesty in this testing and a filter for the web site based on favorable reviews instead of your obviously flawed testing?

Our "fix" for our Maytag front loader: Clean the door seal thoroughly with disinfectant, then leave a few pennies in the bottom of the door seal. Smell has been gone since. It appears to be a permanent solution because we've done this for about five years without smell. The reason this works: A small amount of copper dissolves in the door seal water. The copper ions have very strong bacteriostatic properties so bacteria and algae cannot grow there no matter how long the door seal water has been there.

For other smells in laundry that aren't related to the musty/moldy door seal smell, we use Reuter's "Odormute", which works very well on just about every other type of smell.

Manufacturers: You're welcome to use my copper idea (also works with silver, even better in fact) just send some appliances my way :)

I bought LG steam washer & dryer through Direct Buy after checking the CR site in store for recommendations. I HATE them both. I have odors so bad I have to rewash clothes..sometimes more than once.. trying to eliminate the terrible smells. I do all the things: I leave the door open overnight after using, I clean & dry the seal which is no easy task in the LG as the seal is 3 layers & very difficult to access all levels, I drain the water from the bottom using the included door access & drain hose provided,I use the tub clean cycle with liquid bleach as instructed & it takes 1 + hrs to run so where is the energy efficiency in that? I have also taken the drawer out that holds the detergent, bleach & softener dispensers to clean it & to my horror found black disgusting mold covering the chute where these things are dispensed. I had to use a bleach soaked cloth & considerable elbow grease to clean it up! Now to the ratings:I own & live on a horse farm with all that entails. I find that unless I select the extra water & extra rinse options that my clothes do not even get thoroughly wet nor does the soap get rinsed out thoroughly. The machine may be gentle but I find that it does not get my clothes clean more often than not so again I must rewash them. Now I will try the powder detergent & the coin suggestions but I have to tell you that I don't put much faith in anything solving these disgusting & disheartening problems. Every time I wash these days I end up wondering why I gave up my "energy hog" Maytag top loader that I had for 26 years & it still served me well the day I traded it for my nightmare replacement! Not energy wise. Not energy efficient, especially when clothes must be rewashed so often. And finally the time it takes to do a load of wash is especially long therefore again using more energy! I am considering donating it to Habitat for Humanity & going back to what I know & have been happy with. But why would I want to inflict these problems on anyone else? And the money that will be wasted replacing a very expensive, less than one year old appliance is very disturbing. Shame on you CR. Maybe you need to test your testers; I have spoken to many people that have gone with the front loader & have not found even one satisfied customer regardless of brand.

I purchased a LG front load washer after reading reports at "Consumer Reports.org", I convinced myself that I was making the correct choice. I read some reviews from users and was aware of the "smell" in the front load washers. I decided that it was a user problem as they probably did not clean the washer or left wet laundry in it. My washer did not smell until two weeks ago and now it is woeful. I have cleaned it after doing laundry and leave the door open until completely dry (two days). (My old top loader would smell if the lid was down so leaving the door open was a natural thing for me.) There's still a smell! The seal seems clean so where is it coming from? I am very disappointed as I am otherwise very happy with the washer.

We were concerned about the mold/odor issue and bought the top-load high efficiency Maytag Bravos washer and steam dryer in August, before the new models with odor reduction came out. We have had no problems with odor or mold. Clothes have been left in the washer for a day quite a few times. "Affresh" washer cleaner is recommended - I have only used it once. We use fragrance free HE detergent, so our laundry products are not masking odors.

CR wrote specifically:
Our experts suggest that some odors could be from residual soil and bacteria in the clothing or the machine that under the right temperature and moisture conditions are able to propagate.

So faulty and dishonest for what???

We have a whirpool front loader, OUR CLOTHES STINK! It didn't happen right away but after about a year of using the washer. The smell gets in the clothes and does not come out. I use color safe bleach to help and have stopped using liquid fabric softener because of the seal issue. I miss my old washing machine and will never buy a front loader again.

Has anyone thought about it could be the products we are using and not the washing machine? I had a Maytag top loader with the plastic tub for about 3 years and our clothes had a musty smell. I took apart the washer and found mold and gunk caked inside of the agitator where we would put the liquid fabric softener. I got tired of cleaning it so I purchased a LG front loader about 3 years ago. After a while we started to get the musty smell again. I search the internet and found a product called "Smelly Washer" http://www.smellywasher.com/ and used it a couple of time to get rid of the initial smell plus we stopped using liquid fabric softeners and now leave the door open and the smell has gone away. I've read that there are agents in the fabric softeners that bonds to the plastic and rubber and with it sitting there in the moist environment, it can get moldy. Plus bleach will only clean the mold but not kill it. I love our washer and I would buy another front loader to replace the one that I have currently. We do not use liquid fabric softeners anymore, we use dryer sheets. How about Consumer Report runs some tests on this?

Some of you folks scare me with the low ratings that users have given to their front loaders. My machine is a Duet w/out the steam cycle. Front loading or cascade types of machines uaually give the best result. Commercial laundries use these types for their and customer linens and general washing. I have worked on some machines that are about 100 years old and still perform on a daily basis. The problems of odors stem from the types of detergents. The place where I had worked part time on maintenance and electrical work, the company used a powdered detergent, along with ph lowering and raising agents. This was mostly to keep sudsing down. Liquid bleach was used. The clothing/laundry did not smell, and the machines were used 6 days a week, and ocassionally on weekends. By the way, they also did horse blankets on ocassion and large commercial tents. Quality of the water is important. The drinking water had no smell and no taste, even after standing. This is unlike the water at my house, as I am at the end of a line, and the bottom of a hill.

this is better than the top loading one. its more efficient i even have one i try. and it works nice,. me

I appreciate the info in this forum. I have an old top-loader washer, and I have started having issues with occasional smelly loads. Some individual pieces of clothing I've actually had to just throw away because they weren't suitable for bleaching. I thought it was just the age of my washer, but now I see that I started having it after I switched to liquid fabric softener--because CR said it performed better than dryer sheets. I honestly can't tell the difference in static/softness with the liquid softener. So, I'll see if I can find the gunk in the washer and clean it up ... then toss my liquid fabric softener and buy some Bounce.