Nest recalls 440K smoke alarms that shut off unintentionally

Google-owned Nest announced today that it’s recalling over 440,000 Nest Protect devices, which function as both a smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm that connects to your smartphone.

The news comes after Nest halted sales of Nest Protect last month due to a problem with one of the device’s features. The Protect has a feature called “Nest Wave” that lets you silence an active alarm by waving your hands in a certain direction. (Sort of like Xbox’s Kinect motion sensor technology.)

However, Nest soon discovered that this particular feature contained a serious flaw that deactivated the device entirely (without the owner’s knowledge) by accidentally waving in the wrong direction.

But Nest has a fix for this potentially fatal flaw, according to the company. You just need to make sure the device is connected to the Internet, which will permit the company to push out an automatic software update. Nest is also suggesting that Protect owners double-check that the update completed by logging into their Nest account to make sure the “Nest Wave” feature is indeed turned off.

And while this process seems relatively straightforward, Nest doesn’t seem to be taking any chances as evident with today’s recall announcement.

Via the San Jose Mercury News