The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2023–2026
Audio-Technica's ATH-SQ1TW2: fires kept coming 20 months into the recall
44,600 earphones recalled Nov 2024 for a charging-case battery that burns. Four fires by autumn 2025, one more in a bag in July 2026; 9,000+ never reached.
Audio-Technica · 2026-07-31
What happened
Audio-Technica's ATH-SQ1TW2 wireless earphones — six color models, lot numbers 2322 to 2426, 44,600 units — carried a charging case whose built-in battery could rupture and burn. The recall began November 15, 2024: collect and exchange.
The fires kept coming anyway: April 27, July 12, August 19 and September 3, 2025, and then July 19, 2026 — a unit smoking and igniting while charging inside a bag, burning the product and its surroundings. The Consumer Affairs Agency published the accident on July 31, 2026; more than 9,000 of the 44,600 units had never been collected.
The suspected cause is the charging case's built-in battery. A recall that reaches most owners still leaves thousands of burning cases in bags, on trains, in drawers — the tail is the product now.
Why it happened
- The charging case's built-in battery could rupture and burn — fires on Apr 27, Jul 12, Aug 19, Sep 3, 2025 and Jul 19, 2026, the last one charging inside a bag
- 44,600 units recalled Nov 15, 2024; by July 2026 more than 9,000 were still uncollected — the tail kept burning 20 months into the campaign
- Earphones travel in bags beside keys and coins — the case fire burned the product and its surroundings, the exact place the defect lives
The lesson
A recall's unreached tail is inventory that still burns — 9,000 uncollected cases are 9,000 live defects. The campaign's percentage is not the product's safety.
Sources
- 消費者庁リコール情報 — オーディオテクニカ ワイヤレスイヤホン 交換／回収 (Nov 2024)
- ASCII via Yahoo — オーディオテクニカがリコール中のワイヤレスイヤホンで火災事故 (Jul 2026)
- しんじほう — オーディオテクニカ製コードレスイヤホンで4件目の火災事故、リコール対象9千台以上が未回収
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