Sony Recalls 73,000 Vaio Laptops Due To Burn Worry

alphadogg writes "Sony is recalling 73,000 Vaio TZ laptops because of a possible manufacturing defect that may cause them to overheat, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday. The recall relates to a problem with wiring near the computer's hinge, which could short-circuit and overheat in certain circumstances, perhaps burning the user. One person has suffered a minor burn as a result of the latest defect, and Sony has received 15 other reports of overheating computers, according to the Commission."

Sony

Sony having a defective laptop? I've never heard of that happen. Sony products are perfect.

Re:Sony

You joke, but I used to purchase Sony products because they represented quality. Need a top of the line Palm Pilot, CRT, television, laptop, CD player, etc.? Sony was the place to go.

These days Sony's quality IS the joke. :-(

Re:Sony

...possibly true for hifi, TVs etc., but having once worked for a Sony laptop repair shop I can say that the evidence suggests they have never really perfected the art of laptop design - bits fall off, break, or the system boards/screens develop early life failures.

We used to repair Sony, Toshiba, Dell, Compaq, IBM etc. and he Sonys were the worse for 'it just happened' faults as opposed to 'I dropped it' or disk failures etc.

Re:Sony

Sony made PDA's that ran the PalmOS (the Clié series). They were generally regarded as a very desirable/quality version of a Palm.

Since they ran the same OS/software, it's obvcious that the GP was referring to "Palm" the platform and not the brand of device.

Re:Sony

Sony and IBM are the only electronics I will buy because of their superior quality and affordability.

Re:Sony

Sony inhabits a small but select club for me - companies who's products I outright boycott. Some companies have made it on my list due to shitty products, some due to shitty customer service, some due to shitty business/social/environmental policies, and some due to various combinations of all the above.

I think that I may hate Creative just slightly more than Sony due to profound psychological trauma I suffered as a result of their hardware and drivers ... but Sony ranks right up there.

Re:

Not to mention Sony is a member of every **AA anti-piracy group out there.

Sony optical drives

I specifically buy Sony optical drives because

1. I've generally not had problems with them and

2. I get a real good chuckle when I make illegal copies of audio discs recorded on their label.

manufacturing?

The recall relates to a problem with wiring near the computer's hinge, which could short-circuit and overheat in certain circumstances, perhaps burning the user.

That sounds like a design defect, not a manufacturing defect.

Re:manufacturing?

Manufacturing doesn't just put wires wherever. This is clearly a case of Sony calling it a manufacturing defect to cover their legal asses in case of Class Action lawsuits.

They can then allege that this was only in X thousand laptops because they were built wrong, not because they were designed to be wrong.

Inverter

From TFA:

The overheating could be caused by misplaced wiring near the hinge, or if a screw in the hinge falls out and short-circuits the wires.

Nice, that's usually where the inverter [laptoprepair101.com] is. The only better way to make a true Sony-style exploder would be a short across the battery terminals!

it blew up in my pants

I had a sony walkman once, it blew up in my pants. did wonders for my sexlife.

Re:it blew up in my pants

In my experience, women tend to be disappointed if it blows up in your pants.

Sony's latest anti-piracy trick.

Apparently, the famous CD rootkit wasn't good enough at preventing piracy. Well, this new tool in the fight will burn your fingers clean off. I'd like to see you try to pirate a CD when you can't even pick it up.

To see if you're affected...

you're supposed to visit http://esupport.sony.com/fixmypc [sony.com]. Unfortunately, that just takes you to a page which says 'This is a test'. That's Sony quality for ya!

guess i'll need to wait until I can call their hotline or something. (1-888-526-6219 if you're that interested...)

Well, at least...

At least they weren't shipped with rootkits! Well, I THINK they weren't but how could you know?

I know that after being rooted by a music CD, I'll never have a Sony product burn me (except maybe my TV, which I bought before being burned by XCP). Once bitten, twice shy. Other corporations should take heed.

Not surprised

The recall relates to a problem with wiring near the computer's hinge, which could short-circuit and overheat in certain circumstances, perhaps burning the user.

Users generally get burned for buying Sony anyway.

I remember when Sony used to make good stuff

What ever happened to that? My dad has a Sony tv that he got around when I was born. When I hit about 12 he got a new Sony tv. And it died, and the old one is still ticking.

More than 73,000

Up to 440,000 [bbc.co.uk] laptops now.

Just remember to...

...take off all those illegal Sony Music MP3s you've downloaded before you return it.

Re:

What the hell was that?!? Don't you ever try to be funny again, EVER!

Re:I'm confused

Ahh he is probably just a little worked up because his Vaio ignited his balls.

Re:Sony's QA programs lacking in other areas too

I know exactly what happened. Follow along. Prior to about 1990, most electronics systems were made of more parts (less system on a chip type stuff) and the technology for putting those parts together was different. When you use a 4-7 layer board, with lead containing solder, and few if any surface mount components, the connections are more reliable. Some might argue, but it's true. The technology for using lead free solder and surface mount components is almost an art. You're not going to get joe at the tv repair shop to fix your mp3 player very often these days. Consequently, design techniques and technology also changed. Reliability is not something they design in for the 'lifetime' of the device because life expectancy is not 15 years any more, it's about 3 years tops. It's not designed for obsolescence, it just happens that way, so 15 year reliability is not a big bonus anymore.

With surface mount components and technology, most consumer devices have become 'throw away' technology. That is to say it's cheaper to build a new one than to repair the broken one. It's been that way for some 15+ years. So it has become a gamble: make something that lasts long enough for the next model to come out, just replace any defects. Most "repairs" in the last 15 years are nothing more than putting a new case on the outside. Note that Apple has had some problems as have other manufacturers. The Razor sucked as an example.

Despite many such failures in consumer products, I have yet to find anyone complaining bitterly about Panasonic or sharp. Does anyone have horror stories from them? Sharp makes the Sidekick, and I have to say I'm rather impressed with that product.

This is why extra warranty time is a rip-off. If the product is going to fail, it will fail in the first year, if not, it will probably last for 7+ years... well past typical usefulness to most markets.

RoHS in manufacturing programs are also causing things to happen that will bit by bit reduce long term reliability. That's just how it is. Perhaps some nanotech will come along to fix the problems induced by current manufacturing technology trends. I hope so.

Re:Is a general problem

I think the recall relates to something more than the general trend toward laptops running hotter...

But to your point, a few things.

First, heat as waste energy... well, sort of. All of the energy that goes into your computer comes back out. (Remember, using energy doesn't mean the energy is gone.) If we exclude the energy that's deliberately converted to light for the monitor, a good chunk of that is ultimately coming out as heat regardless of what happens to it in the mean time.

Yes, a more energy-efficient processor (and other hardware) will run cooler, all else being equal. However, dividing the energy that goes into a computer into "useful" vs. "waste heat" isn't really accurate.

But my real point is, it's not as if a laptop today is equivalent to a laptop 5 years ago except less energy-efficient. Newer laptops are smaller, which makes it harder to dissipate the heat generated. Also, processors are faster (and by other measures "more powerful"). Transistor counts go up, so does power consumed... and again, "consumed" mostly means "dissipated as heat".

I wouldn't say that we're "designing hotter laptops"; I'd say we're designing smaller/faster laptops and increases in efficiency haven't kept up wtih the level of cool running we'd become acustomed to.

Re:

Why doesn't a laptop battery do something intelligent way before it explodes, for example? I should expect to be able to short circuit externally or in several places internally and the worst case behaviour be that it blows a fuse, permanently disabling the battery. Why do the vents that are supposed to prevent explosion seem not to trigger until enough pressure has built up that someone directly above/below one is likely to get injured?

Well, there are multiple levels of protection in lithium ion battery