Sony is to recall 1,6 million of its Bravia brand LCD TVs sold worldwide since 2007. This comes after several serious malfunctions involving parts melting, and even possibly catching fire as a result, have occurred. Japan’s trade ministry today instructed Sony to recall the TV’s as a precautionary measure to prevent further incidents.

The models were manufactured during 2007 and 2008, and were mainly sold in Europe and the United States, but some have been sold in Japan and other parts of the world.

A total of 11 incidents of overheating have been reported in Japan since 2008, and one included a September incident that caused a customer to call the fire department after noticing a small fire and smoke rising from the TV.

This is a list of the affected model numbers, and you can check your model number on the back of your TV:

KDL-40D3400, KLD-40D3500, KDL-40D3550, KDL-40D3660, KDL-40V3000, KDL-40W3000, KDL-40X3000, KDL-40X3500.

If any of you are affected by this, you are encouraged to get in contact with your nearest Sony service centre by following this link.

This from Sony:

If you own one of these products and you notice any abnormality – unusual noise, unusual smell or smoking – please turn it off immediately and unplug the power cable.

Sony is voluntarily initiating a free inspection, and if necessary a free repair to reassure you that these products meet your expectations.

An analyst at Mito Securities, Keita Wakabayashi, said the brand’s images faces possible damage as a result:

Sony-related recalls are following one another and that may ruin the company’s brand image. It could impact the stock negatively if the recall causes a significant amount of expense.

Sony currently says no incidents have been reported outside of Japan, but as the saying goes, rather be safe than sorry.

[Sources: Bloomberg, DailyMail]