15 million Toshiba laptop adapters recalled over burn and fire risks

Dynabook Americas, the company formerly known as Toshiba, has recalled 15.5 million Toshiba laptop AC adapters over potential burn and fire hazards.

The company said it received 679 reports of the recalled AC adapters overheating or catching on fire, melting and burning, including 43 reports of minor burn injuries.

Consumers should stop using the adapters immediately and contact them for a free replacement, Dynabook Americas said.

The recall applies to AC adapters sold both alongside Toshiba personal laptop computers and sold separately, with date codes ranging between April 2008 through December 2012. The adapters were manufactured in China.

More than 60 models are part of the recall. The company published a webpage listing the impacted model numbers and serial numbers for the adapters.

About 1.3 million of the affected adapters were also sold in Canada.

Toshiba was once a leading player in the laptop market but now makes up about 1%, according to market research firm Gartner. Nowadays, Lenovo dominates the category with 25%, followed by HP (22%), Dell (17%) and Apple (9%).

“Because the adapters are for very old models, it’s only a very small percentage of the population that is still using them,” said Mikako Kitagawa, a director analyst at Gartner.

AC adapters made headlines years ago for risks around heating up quickly and catching on fire.

“It’s very interesting that this is happening now,” Kitagawa said. “If these devices were sold five years ago, and not 15 years ago, it would have a bigger impact on the market.”

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