Garmin, the maker of many popular hand-held navigation devices typically purchased aftermarket, has just announced a recall of 1.25 million devices which pose a fire risk.
Of the 1.25 million devices to be recalled, the majority – roughly 795,000 – are located in the U.S.
The maker of the devices has notified its customers via letter of the problem, stating that it has “identified potential overheating issues when certain batteries manufactured by the third-party battery supplier within a limited date code range are used in certain Garmin nüvi models with a specific printed circuit board (PCB) design. It appears that the interaction of these factors can, in rare circumstances, increase the possibility of overheating, which may lead to a fire hazard.”
While a recall of this nature would ordinarily just be limited to the consumer electronics realm, but as Autoblog has pointed out, some manufacturers, such as Suzuki , utilize the included devices in their vehicles. At this point it is too soon to know exactly how Suzuki and other potentially affected automakers will react and handle the issue, if at all, but for now the recall poses a vehicle fire risk for those owners.
The devices included in the recall are the 200W, 250W, 260W and some of the 700 series devices as well.
To date, Garmin says fewer than 10 incidents have occurred involving fire, with non resulting in major damage, injuries or death.
References
1. ‘Germin Nuvi GPS recalled…’ view
