Nest Halts Sales of Smoke Detector Amid Safety Concern

Nest Labs announced Thursday that it’s stopping sales of its smoke and carbon monoxide detector, Nest Protect, because of safety issues.

The company came across issues with the alarm on the device during regular laboratory testing:

“We observed a unique combination of circumstances that caused us to question whether the Nest Wave (a feature that enables you to turn off your alarm with a wave of the hand) could be unintentionally activated. This could delay an alarm going off if there was a real fire.”

The Wave function is one of the most unique features the Protect has and sets it apart from traditional smoke alarms. Because it’s so easy to elicit false alarms from a smoke detector—such as with an open oven door—the Nest Protect lets users wave their hand to silence the alarm temporarily.

Nest has not received any complaints about this issue, but company is offering a complete refund to any customer who already owns the Protect and wants to return it. In a letter posted on the company’s website, CEO Tony Fadell wrote that it will take “at least two to three months” to update their software to fix the feature and get it approved by safety agencies for consumer use. The company was acquired by Google for $3.2 billion in 2013.

Nest Protect is one of two products Nest currently makes. The other, the Nest Thermostat, has not had any reported issues or defects. Both products are “smart” takes on tradition home appliances, featuring internet connections.

Source: Nest