Accident Information Special News 15 (Car Audio)

1. Outline

In November, Alpine Electronics Inc. reported to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry on information of ignition accidents of speakers for car audios, which were manufactured by the Alpine Electronics Inc. and equipped in automobiles manufactured by ISUZU MOTORS LIMITED and Mazda Motor Corp., and some of them were equipped in the automobiles of imported automobile sales companies.
From April to November 1997, the appropriate car audios caused 11 similar ignition accidents so that, in December 8, the Alpine Electronics Inc. announced this information on newspapers and the like to request the users to stop using the appropriate products and also performs recall and replacement.

At present, the products distributed on market are estimated to be approximately 31,000 and the occurring situations of the accidents were examined to find 7 similar accidents reported from October to November. The actions taken by the Alpine are appropriate, because the products are continuously used at this moment in time, if the use period of the products is elongated, the risk of the accident occurrence will be increased, and in the worst, it may result in a fire of automobile.

However, it is possible that the consumer may be difficult to judge whether the product falls under it or not by the contents of the announcement, and therefore, the NITE decided to release the necessary information for the products.

(Product)

Name of Product:

Alpine Car Audio

Model and Car Type :

As you will see from the enclosed paper.

Manufactured by:

Alpine Electronics Inc.
20-1 Koma Kogyo-Danchi Iwaki-shi Fukushima-ken

Period of Manufacture:

From 1990 to February 1995

Period of Sales:

Same as the above

Number of Sales:

Approximately 31,000

Number of Ignition Accidents:

11

(Origins of Accidents)

• 1 In the manufacturing process, stress is applied to the electrolytic capacitor to cause deviation in the sealing part of the electrolytic capacitor and the long-time use causes the leakage of the electrolyte so as to short-circuit the terminals.
• 2 The short circuit of the electrolytic capacitor broke the balance of DC of an amplifier circuit to induce potential difference between output terminals of the speaker so that the abnormal current flowed through the speaker to cause burning of a voice coil.

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2. Outlines of Accident Related to Appropriate Car Audio

• The circumference of the speaker were burnt and the user got slightly burned on the hands in extinguishing it.
• Burning from the speaker part during driving.
• Smoking from the speaker during driving.

Etc.

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3. Attentions

Judging from the information having reported to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry so far, the following points are required attentions on the appropriate product.

1. （１）The use of the product shall be stopped, because the car audio manufactured by the Alpine Electronics Inc., which has provided the information to us, has a risk of smoking and igniting from the speaker in using and, in the worst, it may cause a car fire.
2. （２）The Alpine Electronics Inc. designated the contact number so that in the procedures related to the recall and the replacement, the user should respond to the product replacement, etc. according to the guide and the instructions.

Contact Number of the Manufacturer:

Customer service representative in Alpine Electronics Inc.
Free Dial0120-381-311