US authorities have instructed Sony to do a product recall after multiple reports of problems with regards to overheating. The recall affects more than half a million of its F and C series laptops sold since the start of 2010.

The American Consumer Product Safety Commission said that “the computers can overheat, posing a burn hazard.” Sony however, denied that “this is not a recall,” but simply and emergency rectification of a problem fixable with a software update [ED: isn’t that the tenet of a recall?].

When interviewed by the BBC, Nick Sharples, Sony’s European communications director said, “The word recall has been used by the CPSC in the States, but we are not calling it that. It is possible to update the firmware online, which will rectify the problem.”

Sony says 260,000 laptops in the US, 103,000 in Europe, 120,000 in South East Asia and 52,000 in Japan need to be fixed. Although there are no reports of any users suffering burns, Sony say it has received a number of reports of its laptop overheating, distorting keyboards and casings. This recall is to prevent bodily harm from ever occurring due to the unpatched problem.

The problem resides within the VPCF11 and VPCCW2 family of notebook PCs.

If you believe that you have purchased a Vaio laptop that encompasses the recall, you can download a firmware update for the BIOS that supposedly fixes the issue.  If you are unsure how to check your model numbers of your laptop, refer here.  If however, you have qualms about tinkering about your laptop and for further questions, call the Sony technical support hotline for your country.

source BBC