recalls

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, … Read more

Canon has announced a service advisory for the PowerShot A650 IS, the company's 12-megapixel PowerShot A-series camera. According to Canon, the camera's pivoting, rotating LCD screen exposes the back of the camera and may light leak through when shooting in bright sunlight.

This issue doesn't ruin the camera, it only potentially causes image problems when taking photos in bright light with the screen open. You can still use it with the LCD screen folded against the camera body and facing outward. Still, one of the A650's nicest features is the flip-out LCD, and not being able … Read more

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. … Read more

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 … Read more

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.

"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 … Read more

If you have a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-T5, then...well, you should probably get a new camera. But if you want to keep the gadget around, you should be aware of Sony's latest announcement. Apparently, some DSC-T5s' metal casings have a tendency to warp and form a dangerous edge on the camera. Sony's now offering free casing repairs to owners of over 400,000 DSC-T5s. If your T has a serial number between 3010001 and 3081200, Sony will replace the metal plate with one that won't bend and potentially lacerate you. For more details on the repair plan (… Read more

Castoff computer parts can make for quirky jewelry, if you feel like flashing keyboard button earrings or circuitboard cufflinks.

Unlike these models of creative recycling, some costume jewelry imported from China contains heavy metals from discarded electronics and could make you sick, as the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Some novelty necklaces and earrings are laced with lead and antimony that likely came from e-waste thrown away by consumers in the United States and other developed nations, then shipped to China for unsafe recycling. "Best Friends Forever" necklaces from Claire's mall shops and stud earrings from … Read more

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 … Read more

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 … Read more