Faulty Capacitors: See, They Knew!
Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker
The story referenced here is company-specific (DELL) but the problem is not, so I refuse to ascribe this simply to DELL….. even though that would be convenient.
Documents recently unsealed in a three-year-old lawsuit against Dell show that the company’s employees were actually aware that the computers were likely to break. Still, the employees tried to play down the problem to customers and allowed customers to rely on trouble-prone machines, putting their businesses at risk. Even the firm defending Dell in the lawsuit was affected when Dell balked at fixing 1,000 suspect computers, according to e-mail messages revealed in the dispute.
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The problems affecting the Dell computers stemmed from an industrywide encounter with bad capacitors produced by Asian PC component suppliers. Capacitors are found on computer motherboards, playing a crucial role in the flow of current across the hardware. They are not meant to pop and leak fluid, but that is exactly what was happening earlier this decade, causing computers made by Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple and others to break.
Actually, capacitors are found in every piece of electronic equipment. They are necessary components in the power supply section of every item that contains some form of electronics, from TVs to video monitors to microwave ovens to radios, cell phones, computers and modern clock-radios.
The problem is not gone either. Here’s a "wall wart" for a device that just failed on me. The device is fine. The power supply? Not.
Those two capacitors in the corner haven’t exploded – yet – but they’ve got bulged tops. They went out-of-tolerance enough to cause the power supply to self-destruct.
This is a power supply for a simple consumer product – a "wall wart" that you probably have a few of around your home.
These failures can cause fires, although that’s not common.
But in every case they result in a non-functional device, and virtually all of the devices with these defective capacitors in them will fail.
These manufacturers are producing and have been selling known defective products. Hundreds of manufacturers. Thousands of distinct products. Were they to recall and replace them all, virtually every major electronics manufacturer and computer maker would be bankrupted immediately.
Therefore, you the consumer get screwed. You are led to believe that your DVD player, TV, radio, cell phone or other consumer electronics device, when it fails out of warranty, is "just old."
It is not "just old."
It was produced with defective components and the companies that did so and sold it to you are well aware of it at this point.
They’re also well-aware that recalling and replacing all those defective units means they’re out of business, so instead of doing the right thing, you, the consumer, get screwed.
I wrote about this in context of a coupe of computer monitors a few months ago. Among other items, I’ve had two video cards, two video monitors, and now this "wall wart" all fall victim to the same failure. I know how to fix these things, but most people do not.
These are not accidents or "ordinary wear and tear" failures.
You are being screwed, America, by manufacturers who produced products with defective components that are necessary for both the function and safety of the devices you’re using.
These components will fail, your consumer electronics will stop working long before they should.
This is not about warranties. These capacitors are not merchantable. They are unfit for any purpose, as they are known to be defective and as such it is known that they will fail, destroying your device.
It is as if these products have a built-in time bomb ala "Mission Impossible", that just happens to go off shortly after your warranty expires.
That may be a lovely way to try to force you to buy a new cell phone, a new DVD player, a new stereo, a new TV or a new microwave oven.
But when these components are known to be bad, the manufacturers of the products know they’re in the devices and they fail to recall them I believe there is a cogent argument that these latent and known defects constitute fraudulent conduct, as the manufacturers are not disclosing that these devices have an effective "automatic termination" device built into them and WILL fail at some point out of warranty far before their claimed "design life."
Selling people known-defective products and hiding it is supposed to be against the law. You’re taking money from people for something you know is a piece of junk but you’re representing it as a "good" product.
Again: Where are the cops?
