The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said Friday that it is working with Samsung to soon announce a formal recall of the Galaxy Note 7.
Samsung is finally working with the U.S. government on a formal recall of the Galaxy Note 7
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says people should not use or charge the tablets, whose batteries have been linked to a fire risk.
Samsung
In the meantime, the agency and Samsung are urging consumers to neither use nor charge the phones, whose batteries have been linked to a fire risk. Samsung has offered to replace all Note 7 phablets globally.
However, as first reported by Recode, federal officials were concerned that the company appeared to be bypassing the federal agency that typically handles safety-related recalls in the U.S.
“CPSC and Samsung are working cooperatively to formally announce an official recall of the devices, as soon as possible,” the agency said in a statement. “CPSC is working quickly to determine if a replacement Galaxy Note 7 is an acceptable remedy for Samsung or their phone carriers to provide to consumers.”
Most U.S. carriers were also offering customers the ability to return the device for a refund or to exchange it for another brand of smartphone. Samsung was offering customers a $25 credit to stick with the Note 7 or another Samsung smartphone.
In the absence of a formal recall, other government agencies have been independently trying to figure out what to do. The Federal Aviation Administration put out its own statement Thursday urging customers to neither charge nor use the Note 7 on planes, but stopped short of banning their transport.
Update: Samsung added a statement of its own on Friday, using stronger language and encouraging customers to stop using the devices.
“Samsung continues to ensure that consumer safety remains our top priority. We are asking users to power down their Galaxy Note 7s and exchange them now.” Samsung Electronics America president Tim Baxter said. “New Note 7 replacement devices will be issued to exchange program participants upon completion of the CPSC process. In the interim, consumers can return their Note 7 for another device.”
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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