Microsoft Announces A Recall For Surface Pro Chargers

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Microsoft has issued a recall for Surface Pro AC power cords. If you are a Surface Pro owner, hit the link to get a replacement power cord.

Today, in consultation with safety regulators, we announced a voluntary replacement program for all Surface Pro AC power cords sold before March 15, 2015, in the U.S. and Canada and before July 15, 2015, in other markets where Surface is sold. If the cord is wound too tightly, twisted or pinched over an extended period of time there is a potential risk for the AC cord– the cord that connects the power supply unit to the electrical socket – to overheat.
 
Mine broke a few months back. The sleeve for the cord separated from the connector and was sparking and shit. Luckily it didn't burn my house down.
 
But after reading the site, it wasn't the power cord, but the connection from the power supply to the device.
 
What about my Surface Pro 4 one which can't charge faster than it drains while playing a game... :(
 
Tiburon1186 said:
But after reading the site, it wasn't the power cord, but the connection from the power supply to the device.
Click to expand...

I had this happen too. The thing was smoking and melting around the part right before the connector that attaches to the Surface Pro. I'm really surprised that someone hasn't gotten onto them for that. It's extremely dangerous and prone to happening. What I ended up doing was just cutting the wire covering off and then stripping the wires and connecting them manually. Unfortunately I have no solder, and just tape didn't cut it for holding the thing together. Currently I just have to lay the Surface Pro down and carefully put the stripped wires together every time I charge it... sigh.

Seriously, why hasn't anyone called some kind of class action lawsuit or something regarding the SP1 charger? It's such a piece of crap.
 
At work, I got a call about a smoking computer. I told them to unplug it. When I got there, the power cord had already burned itself into two separate pieces.
 
Inu said:
What about my Surface Pro 4 one which can't charge faster than it drains while playing a game... :(
Click to expand...

That's odd, I've not heard about this from any other source. Even my Surface Book will charge, albeit slowly, while stressed even on a Surface Pro 3 charger which is about half the capacity of the SB charger. Does it charger normally otherwise?
 
DeathFromBelow said:
Seems like there's a new Surface fail every week or two.
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While big tablets and convertible devices are from new, in the last six months just about every major computing device maker, including Apple, has bought to market one or more devices that's clearly taken cues from the Surface line. Not perfect devices but overall pretty damned fantastic.
 
When I read about this yesterday, thought I would get a whole new power brick. Nope, just the stupid little cord. I don't even care, since those cables are so freaking common and I have random extra ones laying around, which I've been using since they're longer than the SP3's.
 
With all due respect, but this is not the place to praise the product. It's tasteless considering the fire hazard.
I would tell the same thing if it were a different product and different user.

heatlesssun said:
While big tablets and convertible devices are from new, in the last six months just about every major computing device maker, including Apple, has bought to market one or more devices that's clearly taken cues from the Surface line. Not perfect devices but overall pretty damned fantastic.
Click to expand...
 
Microsoft announces a recall....

I was hoping they're recalling Windows 10.
 
M76 said:
Microsoft announces a recall....

I was hoping they're recalling Windows 10.
Click to expand...

All I get is a $0.20 power cord that goes from the wall outlet to the brick? Could have thrown in a whole power adapter for the trouble!

I was hoping it was a recall on the terrible Avastar WiFi/Bluetooth that has plagued 8 devices since the granddaddy Surface Pro...
 
Steve said:
Microsoft has issued a recall for Surface Pro AC power cords. If you are a Surface Pro owner, hit the link to get a replacement power cord.

Today, in consultation with safety regulators, we announced a voluntary replacement program for all Surface Pro AC power cords sold before March 15, 2015, in the U.S. and Canada and before July 15, 2015, in other markets where Surface is sold. If the cord is wound too tightly, twisted or pinched over an extended period of time there is a potential risk for the AC cord– the cord that connects the power supply unit to the electrical socket – to overheat.
Click to expand...

As someone who knows about cables and babying them...99.9999% of people abuse cables and meet the criteria above.
 
michalrz said:
With all due respect, but this is not the place to praise the product. It's tasteless considering the fire hazard.
I would tell the same thing if it were a different product and different user.
Click to expand...

Recalls for things happen all of the time. I'm not dismissing the danger here but this is a voluntary recall of a problem that apparently isn't wide spread and hasn't led to anything really bad that I know of. I have two affected adapters and have replacement cords on the way. Part of what makes a product great is customer service and in this case it looks like that's working.
 
I haven't had any problems with mine, but I ordered the replacement anyway. I'd rather NOT have an issue with it down the road! :)

Just another recall, nothing special. I have had a dozen or so on my car in the past 5 years. At least it's getting attention and getting fixed, rather than being ignored.
 
Don't get me wrong, I would love one!
However I'm the kind of guy who would feel uneasy recommending a product undergoing recall due to fire hazard. Too sensitive? Perhaps.
But would you feel comfortable knowing your words swayed just one person to pull the trigger on one just to die in a fire later? I would feel sick for the rest of my life, that's why I called your post out.
Call me oversensitive.

heatlesssun said:
Recalls for things happen all of the time. I'm not dismissing the danger here but this is a voluntary recall of a problem that apparently isn't wide spread and hasn't led to anything really bad that I know of. I have two affected adapters and have replacement cords on the way. Part of what makes a product great is customer service and in this case it looks like that's working.
Click to expand...
 
would probably not have seen this.

placed the replacement order, thanks.
 
michalrz said:
Don't get me wrong, I would love one!
However I'm the kind of guy who would feel uneasy recommending a product undergoing recall due to fire hazard. Too sensitive? Perhaps.
But would you feel comfortable knowing your words swayed just one person to pull the trigger on one just to die in a fire later? I would feel sick for the rest of my life, that's why I called your post out.
Call me oversensitive.
Click to expand...

I see your point but this recall is for older adapters sold before March 2015 in the US and July 2015 in Canada and I've seen no reports of actual fires due to this issue. As a voluntary recall under these circumstances it looks like Microsoft is trying to prevent serious problems. And no, that's not altruism, I'm sure Microsoft doesn't want to get sued if there ever were a serious problem that arose that they knew could happen and did nothing to resolve.

If product recalls were rare or always prompted by serious events I'd completely agree with you. Often recalls are about "better safe than sorry' which I think is the case here. I think that is actually a good thing.
 
heatlesssun said:
I see your point but this recall is for older adapters sold before March 2015 in the US and July 2015 in Canada and I've seen no reports of actual fires due to this issue. As a voluntary recall under these circumstances it looks like Microsoft is trying to prevent serious problems. And no, that's not altruism, I'm sure Microsoft doesn't want to get sued if there ever were a serious problem that arose that they knew could happen and did nothing to resolve.

If product recalls were rare or always prompted by serious events I'd completely agree with you. Often recalls are about "better safe than sorry' which I think is the case here. I think that is actually a good thing.
Click to expand...

I see. I have no problem with a company admitting error and taking action. As was done with people's busted old RROD Xboxes. Nobody's perfect.
I remember the cougar point SATA recall, which was handled.
Now, I wish someone at Seagate had the balls to admit - "ummmm, about that 7200.11 series..." before I lost a day's worth of data.

My problem was with the 'contrast' between a mental image of a fire and the usage of 'fantastic'. You can imagine, probably.

Frankly I preach not leaving literally anything unattended but powered.

Recently, a friend's TV remote control had a ceramic capacitor fail (coupling tiny AAA batteries with the rest of the device).
It was stuck in couch cushions, as remotes often do.
In a matter of 10 seconds the plastic simply melted, the casing burst open, and whilst taking the batteries out I got serious burns.

A friggin remote control... Hence the paranoia :)
 
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