Halt don't catch fire: Amazon recalls hundreds of thousands of Ring doorbells over exploding battery fears
- Reference: 1605099608
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/11/11/ring_recalls_360000_doorbells_over/
- Source link:
The recall affects Ring’s second-generation video doorbell, with the defect appearing on units sold in the US and Canada between June and October of this year with the model number 5UM5E5.
Ring includes two sets of screws with its doorbell: the first are wood screws designed to affix the doorbell to a wall, while a second set of Torx T6 screws are used to attach the doorbell to its mounting bracket.
What happens if you mix the screws up? The battery may overheat, according to recall notices posted on the websites of [1]Health Canada and the United States [2]Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
To date, Ring has received 85 reports of overheating (and, in some cases, exploding) Ring units in the United States. In 23 cases, the fault resulted in property damage, while eight people reported suffering “minor burns.”
Health Canada has reported just one incident, which produced no injuries or damages.
Ring is estimated to have sold 350,000 units of the affected product in the United States during the period, with a further 8,700 sold in the Great White North. Customers aren’t expected to return their existing devices for a replacement or refund, but are being encouraged to [3]contact Ring for updated installation instructions.
It’s not clear what those who have already incorrectly installed their doorbells should do. We’ve contacted Ring for clarification. ®
Updated at 1335 UTC to add
Ring told us: "The safety of our customers is our top priority. We have contacted customers who purchased a Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) to ensure they received the updated user manual and follow the device installation instructions. Customers do not need to return their devices."
Get our [4]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/hc-sc/2020/74279r-eng.php
[2] https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2020/ring-recalls-video-doorbells-2nd-generation-due-to-fire-hazard
[3] http://support.ring.com/ring-2nd-gen-recall
[4] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Surely they should ring the fire brigade...?
My Ring account emails me when the battery is low.
Perhaps it could email the fire station when the battery catches fire... or automatically call 0118 999 881 999 119 725 3.
Curry night!
To date, Ring has received 85 reports of overheating (and, in some cases, exploding) Ring units in the United States.
How.. unfortunate. Especially if one is desperate to get into one's house & bathroom in time to prevent ring mishaps.
Re: Curry night!
That reminds me of the Jasper Carrott joke. He went for a curry in Newcastle after a gig, and when he woke up in the morning, his arse felt like the map at the start of 'Bonanza'!
Not so smart devices
Maybe consider a re-branding: The Burn Doorbell
Re: Not so smart devices
Sounds like the only branding is to the owners...
If only these devices were connected to some central server...
... the owners could be alerted to the danger.
Alexa: play Ring of Fire ...
Shows people don't read the instructions
I got one of these a couple of months ago, mainly as I'm moving my home office indoors & needed something like this to answer the door (i.e. camera not just a dumb door bell).
Anyhow, the thing is it had a warning inside the box about this exact problem & not to mix the screws up.
The security screws (which they provided the appropriate tool) is to attach it to the mounting thats screwed to the wall so it's difficult for someone to nick the door bell.
The warning clearly stated the overheating problem as the wood screws could "puncture the battery".
Re: Shows people don't read the instructions
It's not just door bells, I see this sort of problem all the time, users install something incorrectly, often without reading the instructions, and then blame the problem on the supplier. And the product designers make everything easy to build and install without ever considering that people screw up occasionally because they failed to think about what they were doing. This is just normal these days - everything is "fixed" by releasing an update.
Re: everything is "fixed" by releasing an update
Apart from people themselves - if only...
Re: Shows people don't read the instructions
The recall was in America, home of "Contents may be hot" labels on coffee cups.
It was likely done to head off ambulance-chaser class lawsuits.
Re: Shows people don't read the instructions
home of "Contents may be hot" labels on coffee cups
Congratulations, you bought the slander job that McDonalds (and other large corporations, funded through "Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse") made against a grandmother who suffered genital burns due to maccies serving 90°C coffee in a flexible cup and denying all responsibility.
She just wanted $20k to cover her medical costs; McDonalds only offered $800. The jury decided McDonalds were so reckless with their practices that they wanted to award her $2.9 million, and she settled for $600k.
The lawsuit ultimately made McDonalds use a more sturdy and rigid cup, which has saved more people from being burned unnecessarily to make McDonalds 0.5c more profit per coffee.
Custom ring tone.
Sometimes Ring release seasonal custom ring tones.
Nee Naw Nee Naw Nee Naw...
“Cool! Is that a custom ring tone?”
“No, it’s a fire engine - the doorbell’s caught fire”
I screwed into a burning ring of fire
I am trying to imagine how it's possible to fit the thing by using wood screws to attach the bracket and then try to get the mounting screws to bite into a door frame.
I assume the wood screws are too long and penetrate the casing and battery but in any case it seems like a design fail combined with the application of Darwinism.
Re: I screwed into a burning ring of fire
'how it's possible' :-
https://toolsowner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/hammering-screws-large.jpg
p.s. https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+1F528 doesn't work in the comments box. Booooo!
Re: I screwed into a burning ring of fire
If you're the type that doesn't read instructions or notice that half the screws are not wood screws you are likely to be using a Birmingham screwdriver.
Re: I screwed into a burning ring of fire
I thought Spaghetti Junction was the Birmingham Screwdriver. Certainly screws everything up for me when I drive through it.
Brilliant, the spy on your door that blows up
I guess this is only for those that are not connected to the new CCTV network operared by the local PLOD.
As with all other IoT shite, it ain't coming anywhere near my home. If my latest project works well, I'll be able to go off grid (gas and leccy) by next summer. I'll cut the landline then as well.
Whilst I know..
It's nice to point the finger at the meatsack tasked with nailing the thing to a wall, I can't help but wonder if extra waste and safety could have been done with a simple trick....
Namely have only set of screws and the security bracket separately (with it's own screws). Seems a relatively easy fix, stops the installer getting all confused and if they didn't buy the bracket and installed it incorrectly anyway then it's not Amazon's fault the installer is being a spanner.
On the flipside, yes, RTFM can also be applied I suppose.
Re: Whilst I know..
Or design it to be intrinsically safe to begin with by not having the overdrive area of the screw sitting above a battery.
Re: Whilst I know..
If “the installer is being a spanner” then it gets even more difficult.
IKEA anyone?
I was dead set against these Ring things
But an exploding door bell... that’s got to be worth it.
Re: I was dead set against these Ring things
Well it would probably be the last time you ever got a visit from Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormon missionaries!
Re: I was dead set against these Ring things
007, we've got a new doorbell we'd like you to try.
Re: I was dead set against these Ring things
*BOOM*
Hm. The postman doesn't always ring twice.
open question
In the spirit of El Reg naming conventions, shouldn't we start referring to this company as
Amazon’s home security auto-Big-Brothering brand Ring
or somesuch?
I'm at a loss here, The battery pops out for charging and in theory you should be mounting the device with the battery ejected from the unit. Am i missing something?
The show must goi on
It's important to get this fixed so the [1]cops' live real-time surveillance access is not interrupted.
[1] https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazon-police-livestream-ring-doorbell-camera
not surprised
I've installed a number of these and have to say that the Ring 2 are really crappy devices. While I like the idea behind them of having a battery powered unti when someone didn't have cabling pulled through, so far every one of these things that I've installed loses wifi connectivity for no rhyme or reason. No real reply from ring as to how to fix the issue and I've given up and started pulling them when called.
I've now been replacing them with the ring pro (yes, I know it needs power run to it, but the reliability outweighs the additional time/cost to pull a cable)...
will never recommend these things to anyone again...
"It’s not clear what those who have already incorrectly installed their doorbells should do."
Call the Fire Brigade?