Sony Recalls 233,000 Faulty VAIO Notebook Computers

Sony Electronics Inc. has announced a recall of about Sony VAIO 233000 notebook computers after it received 30 reports of the deformed keyboards and casing owing to overheating. This overheating poses a burn hazard in case the heated affected part is touched. None of the 30 reports indicated of any injuries as a result of this overheating. The overheating is caused by the malfunction of internal cooling system and protection circuits.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission that oversights protection of consumers from the risks of serious injury or deaths from consumer products that can pose fire, electrical and mechanical hazard has noted that this recall is a voluntary one in cooperation with Sony Electronics.

The recalled products, available in many colors are of VPCF11 Series and VPCCW2 Series notebook computers. The model numbers are located on the bottom of the laptop. The detailed list of model numbers can be found on CPSC’s website.

The units were manufactured in China as well as the United States and were shipped to consumers and reseller between January and April of this year. The units were sold for between $ 800 and $1500. The major electronic retailers that sell this product are Best Buy, Costco, Frys, Amazon.com and Sony Style retail stores and sonystyle.com. It is also available with business suppliers nationwide.

Sony has advised that updating the computer’s BIOS will prevent the computer from overheating. Consumers have been advised to go immediately to esupport.sony.com for instructions on how to update the notebook’s BIOS firmware. Sony is also providing assistance for installing the update at their Sony Style retail stores nationwide.

Consumers can also call Sony technical support for this assistance. The consumers of the affected models need not return the units to their seller but must immediately download the firmware update. Sony will also make arrangements soon for the firmware update to be available through the VAIO Update software program installed on the VAIO computers that will prompt the users when they log on to carry out the necessary firmware update.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has said that the consumers of this product should avoid using them unless otherwise instructed. In addition to reselling a recalled product, the CPSC states that by law even an attempt to resell recalled products is illegal.

CPSC has mentioned on its website that it is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to the overheating on these models or involve a different hazard with the same product. This can be done so by calling CPSC’s Hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC’s teletypewriter at (301) 595-7054

© 2010 Micmn.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.