PlayStation Vita a Fire Risk?

There have been reports of Sony’s PlayStation Vita catching fire, but not in the way that Sony would have liked. An official investigation has kicked off in Japan after several incidents of the Vita becoming dangerously hot while recharging. However, Sony doesn’t think that there’s any defect with the device, as they explained in a statement, “We believe the cause [of the burnouts] is that the cable got wet or had something stuck to it. There is no defect”. Sony said it that it does not plan to recall any PlayStation Vita hardware.

Sony has stated that it is aware of 31 cases of overheating during the Vita’s first six months on sale, with 23 of those occurring in Japan, 8 in the USA, Europe and Australia.

The investigation into these overheating problems is being carried out by independent agency, the National Institute of Technology and Evaluation, which works on behalf of Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The problem has been reported many times on Japanese forums and have similar descriptions, “The portable game machine was recharging. The cable burned out and changed colors. The cause is under investigation.”

Sony has issued a press release about this, reminding customers to “avoid exposing the Vita’s multi-use cable to liquids or foreign substances”. Yeah, sure. Anyone that knows something about electricity will tell you that getting a low voltage cable a bit wet will not cause it to heat up and no way will it overheat, getting so hot that the insulation changes colour! No, this problem is definitely a design fault that Sony hasn’t confessed to yet. No doubt the NITE will uncover the real cause of this overheating and we’ll be there to report it.