Companies and Brands

CPSC Issues Recall of 350,000 Ring Home Doorbell Units

Jon C. Ogg

Published: November 10, 2020 2:13 pm

Last Updated: November 10, 2020 3:41 pm

Most product recalls reported on the daily news from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) are generally overlooked. Many consumers never know that a certain product they are using daily even has been given a recall notice. And many consumers who do know of a recall simply choose to ignore it. But what about when that recall is your front doorbell with an activated security camera?

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) acquired Ring in 2018 for roughly $1 billion at the time. Now the CPSC has a recall notice affecting second generation Ring Video Doorbells. Please note that this article has been updated to reflect a statement (see below) from Ring’s external public relations.

The Ring doorbells come with motion detection and night vision, as well as privacy zones and audio privacy, which can be instantly be sent to a mobile device when anyone presses the doorbell or when trigger Ring’s motion sensors.

According to the CPSC, the video doorbell’s battery may overheat if incorrect screws are used for installation. The result is potential fire and burn hazards. About 350,000 were cited as the number of units sold, as well as about 8,700 units in Canada.

Also according to the CPSC recall site, Ring is said to have received 85 incident reports of incorrect doorbell screws installed. Of those, 23 of the doorbells had ignited and caused minor property damage. The CPSC further noted that there have been 8 reports of minor burns.

Again, some recalls go entirely without consumers ever knowing or caring. Another issue to consider is that the number of incidents here is rather low. It is quite possible that more people even injure themselves just picking up a screwdriver per 350,000 incidents.

After looking at the Amazon website, the units sell for $99.99 and have free shipping. Amazon has become one of the world’s largest companies. It can easily handle these costs, even if the recall required an entire swap.

Another note showed that the CPSC website remedy shows that consumers should stop installing the recalled video doorbells and contact Ring for revised installation instructions. Consumers can check on the Ring site or app to determine whether or not their video doorbell is part of this recall.

The CPSC recall notice said:

This recall involves Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Generation), model number 5UM5E5 smart doorbell cameras. The video doorbells have a blue ring at the front and come in two colors: “satin nickel” (black and silver) and “venetian bronze” (black and bronze). They were sold with a mounting bracket and a USB charging cable. The two-way audio doorbell can be hardwired or battery-powered and supports night vision. The Ring logo is printed on the bottom front of the doorbell and the model and S/N are on a label on the back of the doorbell and the outer packaging.

Ring’s external PR firm is BIGfish Communications. They issued a statement on Tuesday’s recall:

The safety of our customers is our top priority. We have and continue to work cooperatively with the CPSC on this issue, and have contacted customers who purchased a Ring Video Doorbell (2nd Gen) to ensure they received the updated user manual and follow the device installation instructions. Customers do not need to return their devices.

This is not likely anywhere close to enough money to be a stock issue for Amazon, even if the shares were already down close to 3% at the time of the CPSC notice.