WASHINGTON (AP) — From dishwashers that spark and flame to ovens that switch on spontaneously, kitchen appliances are the highest source of complaints inside the government’s year-old product safety database.

One-third of the greater than 6,500 reports filed to SaferProducts.gov until now year were complaints about appliances, mostly within the kitchen. Other top categories included nursery equipment, toys, footwear and residential climate-control systems.

SaferProducts.gov, created a year ago next week, is a database where people can submit reports, for public view, of damage or worse from everyday products in and across the home. Users of the location can also look for products which have been recalled.

Consumer advocates say the database brings transparency to product safety by allowing people to peer complaints in preference to expecting the govt. to first investigate whether a recall is required. It’s been derided, however, by Republicans and others who say bogus or misleading information within the database could needlessly frighten consumers and spell the demise of a business offering products which might be perfectly safe.

Despite the criticism, the pinnacle of the agency that oversees the database, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, says it’s been a helpful resource for consumers and manufacturers.

“i feel people have realized after living with it for a year that it is a great tool for consumers, for the CPSC and for businesses,” CPSC Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said in an interview. “Businesses are identifying what the consumers’ experience is with their products.”

The first legal challenge to the database was filed last fall in Maryland by an unidentified manufacturer, “Company Doe,” which asked to have its real name concealed. It desires to stop the CPSC from publishing online a complaint a few product the corporate makes. The filing says there isn’t any factual evidence to support the complaint.

The commission screens each incoming complaint for basic information — name, contact information, product, injury and date — and allows the manufacturer to reply or object before publishing. Any responses from the companies named inside the complaints also are published within the database for consumers to work out.

The total variety of complaints published was just over 6,500 as of last week, so a normal of about 550 complaints a month. Many of the reports, the commission said, were filed by consumers — about 97 percent. Doctors, government agencies and public safety officials also may file reports.

While 550 or so complaints a month might sound light given the universe of goods the CPSC regulates — about 15,000 products — Tenenbaum said the 6,500 reports to date is a decent number. “It shows me that buyers are using it,” she said.

The agency said the express products that received probably the most complaints were electric ovens and ranges, with 638 reports, and dishwashers, with 440 reports, followed by footwear products, refrigerators, microwave ovens, light bulbs, gas ranges, coffee makers and cribs.