NVIDIA Initiates Safety Recall of SHIELD Tablets (Update: 4 Units Have Overheated)
by Ryan Smith on July 31, 2015 8:15 AM EST
NVIDIA sends word this morning that they are initiating a recall on the SHIELD Tablet. Being announced today and taking effect immediately, the tablets are being voluntarily recalled by NVIDIA on account of safety concerns with some of the batteries the company has used. Though NVIDIA’s announcement doesn’t go into significant detail on the matter, NVIDIA’s notice does specify that some tablets have been shipping with batteries have the potential to overheat, making them a potential fire hazard.
NVIDIA’s recall covers SHIELD Tablets manufactured between July 2014 and July 2015, essentially covering the entire lifetime of the tablet so far. Furthermore the company is asking that current owners do not use the tablets any more than is necessary to back them up and participate in the recall due to the aforementioned risk of fire.
As for the recall process itself, the company notes that only some batteries are defective. As a result the recall process for the Tablet is a bit more involved than a blanket recall, as tablets containing defective tablets need to be identified. To do this, NVIDIA has pushed out a new SHIELD software update, SHIELD Tablet software 3.1 (their release of Android 5.1.1) which includes additional battery information in the Tablet’s About screen. Defective batteries are labeled Y01, while the alternative B01 batteries are unaffected.
Finally, for those owners who have defective tablets, as part of the recall NVIDIA will be shipping out replacement tablets with proper batteries, with an ETA of 2-4 weeks. NVIDIA’s recall notice doesn’t mention how defective tablets will be collected, though the page does mention that defective tablets “will be deactivated remotely and rendered unusable” once owners receive their replacements.
Update, 08/01/2015:
The Consumer Product Safety Commission report for the recall has been posted, which offers a bit more insight into the problems and the numbers involved.
NVIDIA has sold 83,000 faulty SHIELD Tablets in the US, along with another 5,000 in Canada. Of those, NVIDIA has received 4 reports of overheating, with 2 of those reports indicating that the overheating tablet had caused property damage (specifically, to flooring).
Source: NVIDIA
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testbug00 - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
winning designs based on being super-cheap isn't anything amazing.sprockkets - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
A $70 tablet is super cheap.A Tegra Shield tablet at $300-$400, isn't.
ZeDestructor - Sunday, August 2, 2015 - link
Nexus 7s were around $200. Your point?Wolfpup - Wednesday, August 5, 2015 - link
Yeah, 'His' comment makes no sense on several levels. They've used Tegra more than they've used Qualcom in their tablets. This problem is because of the *battery*, not the CPU/GPU. Microsoft for that matter has also used Nvidia twice, instead of Qualcom. And Qualcomm is no less "third party" than Nvidia...I wish Nvidia could have gotten an x86 license though. I'm sure that's the real reason they built their own CPU. I'd guess the CPU part wouldn't be as good as Silvermont/Airmont, BUT the GPU part would be better?
Would love to see Windows tablets with that GPU. I mean on Android it's nifty and all, but I don't care. Where I really want that GPU is on a Windows tablet...
VampireSoul1217 - Friday, August 7, 2015 - link
Dude they already have a new chip 2x the power of tetra and it consume less energy and they most likely already build a supercomputer chip for tablets.djc208 - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Google doesn't make the Google branded devices anyway. They've always partnered with someone else to build it, just like nVidia is doing here too except the tie to the manufacturer is not so obvious.Plus it sounds like NVidia is doing a really good job of minimizing the pain for their customers. There's no cross-shipping to deal with or even return costs from the sounds of things. You just get a new tablet with a different battery. They could have made it way worse.
jimjamjamie - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
Yes because the Nexus line have had no QC issues whatsoever.. /skn00tcn - Friday, July 31, 2015 - link
what does anything have anything to do with a BATTERYMorawka - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - link
i was just a bad battery man.. the soc had nothing to do with it... just a bad supplier for the battery, it can happen to anyone. apple has had their share of bad suppliers / part batches.VampireSoul1217 - Friday, August 7, 2015 - link
3rd party my ass , guess who invented GPU Nvidia . Guess u never play PAC man.