News Blog

Toshiba AC adapter model number ADPV16

(Credit: CPSC)

Toshiba's U.S. subsidiary is recalling 142,000 AC adapters sold with the company's portable DVD players, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Tuesday. The adapters can fail, causing the portable DVD player to overheat and posing a burn hazard to consumers.

The voluntary recall involves the ADPV16 AC adapter sold with Toshiba's SD-P1600 portable players. The gadgets were sold in consumer electronics stores nationwide from January 2005 through April 2006 for between $200 and $230.

Toshiba has received two reports of minor damage to the bottom of the DVD player, according to the CPSC, which also says that no injuries have been reported.

Consumers are being urged to stop using the AC adapters immediately and to contact Toshiba Customer Solutions for a replacement adapter.

Is your cell phone feeling a little extra toasty after a long chat? Well, if it's one of 46 million made by Nokia it could be part of a massive battery recall.

On Tuesday, Nokia, the world's largest cell phone maker, said that a batch of cell phone batteries that were made for the company between December 2005 and November 2006 have been overheating. The company said that around 100 incidents of overheating have been reported, but no one has reported serious injuries or property damage.

The phone batteries affected were made by Japanese manufacturer Matsushita Electric Industrial. The company said it didn't expect the phones to catch on fire, but the overheating did cause phones to short-circuit.

Nokia said that the issue has been limited to the 46 million BL-5C batteries made for Nokia between December 2005 and November 2006. Despite the fact that this type of battery is used in over 30 different mobile phone models, Nokia said only a small proportion of devices were affected. The company has listed the specific phones that have been affected on its Web site.

Nokia has several other suppliers for the BL-5C battery, but only the batteries made by Matsushita Electric Industrial during the specified period have been recalled.

Laptop makers have also been forced to recall batteries for overheating. Earlier this summer, Toshiba recalled some 10,000 batteries made by Sony that were used in laptops, because they posed fire risks. And last summer, Dell announced it was recalling 4.1 million batteries made by Sony that could short-circuit and cause a fire. Dell's recall was followed by Apple, which said some 1.8 million Sony batteries had been affected.

Yes, you've seen this headline before. For the third month in a row, Toshiba customers are being urged to exchange potentially dangerous notebook batteries for the nonexploding kind.

This time around, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says 1,400 of the lithium-ion batteries containing Sony-made cells sold with Toshiba laptops pose a fire hazard. There have been three reports of models with those batteries overheating in other countries, but none of the incidents caused injury, according to the CPSC.

Users of Toshiba's Satellite A100, Satellite A105 and Tecra A7, it's your turn. If your notebook was made between January through June 2006, you are eligible for a free replacement battery from the company by going to Toshiba's battery replacement Web site. In the meantime, the notebooks can still be used with the power cord and no battery.

Toshiba recalled 5,100 Sony batteries in July, and in June urged customers to send in for a new battery after reports of one catching fire and burning a desk in Great Britain.

Still, the latest number of defective batteries seems minor in comparison to last fall's massive recall, which affected more than 9 million notebooks from most major PC makers.

As we previously reported, Sony announced Thursday it's offering to repair 350,000 digital cameras, a point-and-shoot model called the Cyber-shot DSC-T5 released in 2005, because of a problem that could cause metal on the bottom of the camera to cut or scratch the photographer.

A defect in the bottom of some Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T5 cameras can cause cuts or scratches.

(Credit: Sony)

"Sony has recently discovered that some DSC-T5 Cyber-shot digital still cameras may experience peeling and warping of the metal coating on the bottom of the camera that could result in a slight cut or scratch to the user's skin," Sony said in an advisory on its Web site.

The Japanese electronics giant will replace the part and pay shipping for free for anyone affected by the problem. The warping problem, cased by an irregularity in adhesive strength, only affects cameras with serial numbers between 3500001 and 3574100, the company said.

Sony spokesman Ryoko Takagi told The Associated Press that the problem affects about 284,000 cameras that were sold in the United States and about 66,000 in Japan. He said about 30 Japanese customers and several others elsewhere reported small cuts or scratches from the problem.

Foreign Tires Sales, a New Jersey tire importer and distributor, requested Monday that the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration recall about 500,000 tires made for SUVs, pickups and light-duty trucks.

The tires were manufactured in China by the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company for the brands Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS. In addition to New Jersey, the tires are distributed out of Minnesota, Florida, Maryland and California.

FTS first suspected the tires were defective after a rise in warranty claims in October 2005 prompted it to conduct its own tests. In May 2006, the tests confirmed that the tires were either missing or had an insufficient amount of gum grip component commonly used between belts to keeps tires from separating. An investigation prompted by a death and injury lawsuit in 2006 revealed similar conclusions.

The lawsuit involved the accident of a 200 Chevrolet Express 2500 Cargo Van in August 2006. After one of the van's tires came apart, its driver lost control and crashed. One person was killed and one was left with permanent brain damage, according to a statement from the victims' attorneys.

Tread separation is a common problem among defective tires and was at the center of the 2000 Firestone tire recall involving Ford cars, SUVs and trucks.

FTS said in a press release that Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber has not yet made available the tire identification number for those made without gum grip. Because it can not identify exactly which tires are missing the safety feature, it has requested a broad recall from the NHTSA.

Gateway is recalling 14,000 lithium-ion notebook batteries, the company said Tuesday.

The announcement comes after four reports of Gateway notebooks overheating over the last few years. One of the incidents caused "minor property damage," according to Gateway. The batteries in question are used in two models of its notebooks, the 400VTX and 450ROG, sold in the U.S. between May and August 2003.

"The root cause of this battery failure became apparent as the batteries aged and performed repetitive recharging cycles. After an in-depth analysis of the four reported incidents, Gateway took proactive measures to launch a voluntary battery exchange program in the interest of customer safety," said company spokeswoman Lisa Emard.

Gateway says Simplo battery packs containing Samsung cells are to blame in the four incidents. This recall is separate from last year's massive recall of more than 10 million Sony-made notebook batteries by most of the major PC manufacturers, including Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Acer, Gateway and others. The Sony batteries in question were short circuiting due to a defect in the manufacturing process, and PC makers were forced to look to other battery makers, like Simplo, to fill emergency orders.

Gateway says customers can contact the company directly to find out if their battery is on the list and get a free replacement.

Here's a good rule of thumb: when a product is recalled for, say, bursting into flames, take the time to get the replacement.

A Toshiba laptop containing a recalled Sony battery caught fire and burned a desk in Great Britain last month, Toshiba said today. The laptop maker asked Sony to investigate the incident, and a short circuit in the battery pack was deemed the culprit. Toshiba says it will reach out to customers to ensure they are aware of the potential danger of continuing use of recalled batteries. A list of 28 models of affected laptop will be posted to its Web site, and Toshiba will send e-mail notifications to its customers.

Since fall 2006, Dell, Apple, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, Sharp, Panasonic and Acer each have issued recalls of Sony lithium-ion cell batteries after multiple reports of laptops exploding or catching on fire. In all, more than 10 million batteries were pronounced defective.