NZXT has officially recalled the H1 case for its widely publicized safety issue, whereby two screws that attach the PCIe riser assembly to the chassis may cause an electrical short circuit and lead to a fire. The recall has been confirmed by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, which updated its website with a listing of the H1 and a description of the danger that the computer case poses. The listing also points out that a total of 32,000 units are affected, not including an additional 1,024 sold in Canada.
NZXT had attempted to remedy the issue by sending out a repair kit that included nylon screws, but the hardware community argued that it was a poor solution because someone could unknowingly replace the nylon screws with metal ones. The controversy prompted CEO Johnny Hou to publish an apology, which included a FAQ explaining why the company took so long to address the issue and what went wrong with the H1 case’s engineering, among other topics.
“This PCIe Riser is custom,” NZXT wrote. “We started the redesign on it in November after we discovered the flaw and originally planned to ship it with H1s as a process update. We have now updated that plan with much more urgency and direct service to H1 owners. We felt confident that the nylon screws were a viable long-term fix to the issue. We now realize that isn’t good enough. We need to address the root cause for the lifetime of the product.”
“Our Design, Engineering, and QA processes missed an incorrect clearance on the 12V power plane in the PCIe Riser Assembly PCB. This can cause a fire hazard if the mounting screw contacts the 12V power plane in the PCB.”