Toshiba Recalls Laptops Due To Overheating Risk

Toshiba Satellite T135

Some 41,000 Toshiba laptops have been recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission due to reports of overheating and melting. The commission said Thursday that the computers "can overheat at the notebook's plug-in to the AC adapter, posing a burn hazard to consumers."

The affected models are certain Toshiba Satellite T135, Satellite T135D, and Satellite Pro T130 notebooks.

Toshiba has received 129 reports of overheating computers, which have led to a misshaping of the plastic casing area by the AC adapter plug, the commission said. The company's website said that some of the Satellite and Satellite Pro laptops were "manufactured with a potentially faulty DC-In harness." There were two reports of minor burn injuries and minor property damage.

The T130 series models involved in the recall were sold between August 2009 and August 2010 at electronics stores nationwide and online retailers including at toshibadirect.com. They are priced at between $600 and $800.

The commission said that consumers with affected models should immediately download the latest version of Toshiba's BIOS computer program to their notebook computer. "This new computer program will detect whether the notebook computer is overheating, and if so, disable the notebook computer's external power and display a message directing the consumer to contact Toshiba for a free repair," the CPSC said in a statement. "Consumers who do not have Internet access should contact Toshiba to arrange for installation of the updated BIOS."

If the BIOS detects a harness failure, the external power will be immediately disabled to eliminate the issue of overheating, Toshiba said. If the computer is in use when the detection occurs, the user will see a system message stating that the external power has been disabled due to the harness failure. The remaining battery charge can be used to continue operating the laptop without any risk of overheating, Toshiba said, adding that any open files and applications should be saved to avoid data loss. However, the battery cannot be recharged until the system has been repaired.

The complete list of the recalled models is listed on Toshiba's recall page.