Published Sept 25, 2026 — fires in recalled lithium-battery chargers and rechargeable appliances
On September 25, 2026 the Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) published 17 serious product accidents reported under Article 35(1) of the Consumer Product Safety Act. This batch is grouped as fires and similar accidents involving products that had already been recalled (lithium-battery chargers subject to collection and exchange). A special note lists the recall of lithium-battery chargers imported by Anker Japan Inc., but no cases in this batch fall under it. Product types listed include cordless earphones with a lithium-polymer battery, two rechargeable speakers, a food dehydrator, an electrically power-assisted bicycle, three lithium-battery chargers, a portable rechargeable fan, two rechargeable vacuum cleaners, an air conditioner and an outdoor unit, a lithium storage battery, a portable toilet, a glass container and a water server. Unlike the usual one-by-one accident notices, this format shows at a glance that recalled products are still in use — and still catching fire. Full details are in the PDF published on the CAA website.
Recall notices are issued in Japanese, on the maker's site and on the CAA recall information site. If you skim past Japanese emails and leaflets, you may own a recalled product without knowing. This matters most if you furnished your home cheaply right after arriving, via secondhand shops, flea-market apps or online stores: even if the previous owner got the recall notice, that information never reaches the new buyer. In furnished rentals and share houses, nobody may know how old the built-in rechargeable appliances are. A fire in an apartment building is not contained to your room — it turns into evacuation, compensation and eviction problems. Travellers should also avoid leaving a charger running while out. A single model-number check settles it.
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Source:
Consumer Affairs Agency website (Serious product accidents: fires in recalled products — lithium-battery chargers, Sept 25)This article was edited and written by freegent Inc. based on the source above.