Incident 46: Nest Smoke Alarm Erroneously Stops Alarming
Entities
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CSETv0 Taxonomy Classifications
Taxonomy DetailsFull Description
On May 21, 2014, Google Nest, producer of smart home products, issued a recall for its Nest Protect: Smoke + CO Alarm due to concerns that the Nest Wave feature could inadvertently silence alarms. The Nest Wave feature is designed to allow users to silence spurious alarms, for example while cooking, by waving a hand near the unit that triggered the alarm. In lab conditions, however, Nest engineers demonstrated that the Wave feature could be activated erroneously, raising the potential that the device could silence genuine alarms.
Short Description
In testing, Google Nest engineers demonstrated that the Nest Wave feature of their Nest Protect: Smoke + CO Alarm could inadvertently silence genuine alarms.
Severity
Negligible
AI System Description
The Nest Wave gesture detection function of the Nest Protect: Smoke + CO Alarm. The feature is designed to allow the user to silence spurious alarms with a gesture near the device.
System Developer
Nest Labs
Sector of Deployment
Activities of households as employers
Relevant AI functions
Unclear
AI Techniques
Unclear
AI Applications
gesture detection
Location
United States
Named Entities
Nest Labs, Google Nest, Google
Technology Purveyor
Google Nest
Beginning Date
2013-11-15
Ending Date
2014-05-21
Near Miss
Near miss
Intent
Accident
Lives Lost
No
Data Inputs
Motion sensor data
GMF Taxonomy Classifications
Taxonomy DetailsKnown AI Goal
Substance Detection, Smart Devices
Known AI Technology
Gesture Recognition
Potential AI Technology
Regression
Known AI Technical Failure
Unsafe Exposure or Access
Potential AI Technical Failure
Hardware Failure, Limited User Access, Underfitting, Generalization Failure
CSETv1 Taxonomy Classifications
Taxonomy DetailsHarm Distribution Basis
none
Sector of Deployment
other
Incident Reports
Reports Timeline
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- View the report at the Internet Archive
Late last September it was rumored that a smart smoke/carbon monoxide detector would join the now Google-owned Nest line of smart thermostats and was later announced in early October to a great response.
The Nest Protect, which retails for …
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
One of the cool features Nest's smart smoke alarm, the Nest Protect, introduced was the ability for users to wave their hand to turn off a faulty smoke alarm. Turns out, it's not working so hot.
In a statement today from Nest CEO and cofoun…
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
ReadWriteHome is an ongoing series exploring the implications of living in connected homes.
Nest Labs’ sudden decision Thursday to halt sales of its smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors surprised users and drew mixed reactions. But wha…
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
Nest Labs–a startup recently bought by Google which brings high style and web smarts to mundane household devices–is recalling Nest Protect, a smoke and carbon monoxide detector, over concerns that its alarm might fail to go off in emergenc…
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
Nest, the smart sensors and controls company recently acquired by Google for $3.2 billion in cash, just officially announced a massive recall of 440,000 Nest Protect smoke and CO detectors due to the possibility of complete failure to sound…
- View the original report at its source
- View the report at the Internet Archive
Remedy:
The repair is an automatic electronic update that disables the Nest Wave feature and is delivered automatically to devices connected wirelessly to the Internet and linked to a Nest account. Consumers should take one of the following…
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