Sony Recalls 18,000 VAIO Laptops

STFS writes "Reuters has a story about Sony having to recall 18 thousand VAIO laptops because apparently there is some risk of users receiving a small electric shock "if you have connected your PC (laptop) to external power, you have disabled your phone line, (while) simultaneously being connected to a grounded peripheral, and you are touching a metal part of the PC, and your phone rings"!" I can't begin to count the number of times that happens ;)

Comments

At Least Once

[Aadain2001]

I must have happened at least once, or they never would have done the recall. Basic formula, if the cost of a recall is less than the legal bills, they do a recall. Guess someone got zapped pretty good to scare them into a recall.

Re:At Least Once

[rmarll]

At least.

Being plugged in and your phone line connected isn't uncommon at all.

All you really have to do is leave one hand on your 'puter and muck with your scanner or whatever with the other.

Phone rings... B'zap.

Re:At Least Once

[Mikey-San]

You know what they say:

Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply it by the probably rate of failure, B, then multiply the result by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X.

If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.

(The scene was referenced in an earlier comment, but no one bothered quoting that line, unless I missed it somewhere. :-))

Re:At Least Once

[owlstead]

If you think of the percentage of people who actually speak up if something bad actually happens to them then that is a serious number.

This even does not take into acount the number of people this happened to and who did not guess that the laptop was the crulpit.

Of course, if the shock is big enough it will be hard to speak up too, but I hope someone else will then do this for them :)

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Murphy's Law

[s20451]

That's Murphy's Law in its original sense: If there is more than one way that something can be installed or connected, and one of those ways leads to catastrophe, someone will eventually do it the bad way. In other words, given enough people and enough time, anything that can be done, however remotely possible, will eventually be done.

Let that be a lesson when designing hardware.

Consumer goodwill.

[siskbc]

I must have happened at least once, or they never would have done the recall. Basic formula, if the cost of a recall is less than the legal bills, they do a recall. Guess someone got zapped pretty good to scare them into a recall.

I would add to that the loss of goodwill arising from not issuing a recall or only issuing it after being pressured. Sony extracts top dollar by being percieved as being a more supportive company. Not saying it's true, but still.

Re:scary

[Anonymous Coward]

Before now, what prompted you to think "I better not buy a sony laptop, because I might get an electric shock?"

Re:Wow!

[pjrc]

I should have mentioned that the reason for the FCC's open-circuit failure requirement is because in the event that a high voltage power line or lightning strike hits the phone line, hundreds or even thousands of telephones will be destroyed. When the carrier attempts to restore service, if a significant portion of those damaged phones are conducting (equivilant to you answering the phone and leaving off the hook), they will tie up all the available circuits and service can't be restrored to that area without physically removing all those damaged phones.

The key point is that those tiny, seemingly harmless little telephone wires actually run out of your building and (often times) directly into large bundles strung on telephone polls underneath high voltage power lines. It is not safe to allow consumers to come into contact with those wires. It is also not legal, which is why Sony is recalling.

disabled phone ringing?

[Bud]

[...] you have disabled your phone line, [...] and your phone rings

Apparently "disabled phone line" has a different meaning on the west side of the Atlantic. I thought it meant that no phone calls are allowed through.

--Bud