Technology giant Toshiba, along with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission and Health Canada,
announced a voluntary recall of its Satellite T135, Satellite T135D and
Satellite ProT130 notebooks due to overheating that could cause damage to the
notebooks and burn the users.
It is estimated that there are 41,000 of these units worldwide. The
commission said consumers should stop using recalled products immediately
unless otherwise instructed, and noted it is illegal to resell or attempt to
resell a recalled consumer product. The recalled products were sold between
August 2009 and August 2010.
According to the commission's Website, the notebook computers can overheat
at the notebook's plug-in to the AC adapter, posing a burn hazard to consumers.
Toshiba has received 129 reports of the notebook computers overheating and
deforming the plastic casing area around the AC adapter plug, including two
reports of minor burn injuries that did not require medical attention and two
reports of minor property damage.
Consumers who might be affected can find the model name and number printed
on a label on the bottom of the notebook computers. The CPSC recommends that
consumers immediately download the latest version of Toshiba's BIOS computer
program to their notebook computer via Toshiba's Website. "This new
computer program will detect whether the notebook computer is overheating, and
if so, disable the notebook computer's external power and display a message
directing the consumer to contact Toshiba for a free repair," said a CPSC
official statement. "Consumers who do not have Internet access should
contact Toshiba to arrange for installation of the updated BIOS."
Should the BIOS determine that a harness failure is occurring, external
power will immediately be disabled, eliminating the possibility of the notebook
overheating. Users will then need to contact the Toshiba call center to
set up a warranty repair. According to the company's support page, if the
harness failure is detected while the system is operating, users will receive a
system message indicating that the failure has occurred and that external power
has been disabled.
The company said users may continue to use the system, without risk of
overheating, using the remaining battery charge, but recommends that users immediately
close all open files and applications to avoid any data loss. Once the
data has been saved, the system should be properly shut down. It will not
be possible to recharge the battery within the system until it has been
repaired, according to Toshiba.
On Toshiba's consumer support site, the company explained certain Satellite
T135, T135D and Satellite Pro T130 laptop computers have been manufactured with
a potentially faulty DC-In harness. These computers will have model/part
numbers beginning with PST3AU, PST3BU or PST3LU. "The defective harness
may, in some circumstances, overheat to the point of melting the computer's
base at the location where the AC adapter plugs into the unit," the
company said. "To date there have been no reports of serious injury, but
the temperature is sufficient to pose a burn hazard if specific parts of the
DC-In Jack or plug are touched when they are overheated."
Toshiba is just the latest in a series of notebook manufacturers issuing
recalls for overheating computers. In 2010, there have been at least three
other companies that have issued recalls because of overheating concerns. In
January, Acer issued a recall on certain notebooks for heating issues. In May,
HP recalled 54,000 laptop batteries that were overheating. Sony followed in
June with a recall of Vaio notebooks that were also overheating.
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