NVIDIA recalls some Shield tablets, potential fire hazard to blame

The NVIDIA Shield tablet is an excellent device, and a mainstay in our list of best Android tablets for many months now. It looks though that there’s an issue affecting the 8-inch tablet’s battery, because NVIDIA just announced a recall program affecting Shield tablets sold over the last year.

NVIDIA is asking affected Shield owners to submit a claim to receive a replacement device. Not all units are affected: in order to check if you will need to replace your Shield, you must follow these steps:

1. Update your Shield tablet to the latest software version (build date must be newer than July 1, 2015) from Settings>About tablet>System updates
2. Check if your model is affected from Settings>About tablet>Status:
   1. If the entry in the Battery category is B01, you are safe, no return needed
   2. If the entry in the Battery category is Y01, you must go through the recall
3. Tap on “Y01” to receive your device serial number.
4. Enter the serial number on the form available here.
5. Enter the claim number you receive from the NVIDIA site in the recall notice.

More details on the recall procedure are available here.

NVIDIA will ship you a replacement tablet free of charge, but make sure to save all your local data from the old tablet because once you activate the new one, the old one will be deactivated remotely and become unusable.

NVIDIA did not detail the reasons behind the recall, under than to say that “tablets can overheat and pose a fire hazard.” From the multitude of reports about injury and damage caused by faulty electronics, this is not an issue you want to take lightly, so make sure to go through the recall as soon as possible.

Have you experienced any issues with your Shield tablet?