Sony to recall TZ ultraportables due to burn risk

Sony on Thursday joined up with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a product recall for its VAIO TZ series notebooks. The PC builder explains that some of the 11.1-inch ultraportable systems have unusually positioned wires or loose screws in and near the display hinge that can trigger overheating or a short circuit, either of which is potentially dangerous. As many as 15 known incidents have been reported, including one with minor burns, the Commission says.

The recall affects about 440,000 systems and allows users to keep running the TZ until it's repaired. Sony is fronting the cost of the repairs and will fix the systems for free at the user's home or office if they prefer, though at the moment it declines to replace systems outright without first trying the repair.

Sony's new program is the second in as many years for its notebook technology and follows a global battery recall that affected itself, Apple and several other major PC builders. It subsequently triggered a Japanese lawsuit and investigations into battery fires.

The reliability issue also hurts Sony's ultraportable business, which is considered successful but has been hurt in recent months by the emergence of more ultraportables from companies with historically better reliability records, such as Apple and Lenovo.

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