Nest has halted sale of their smoke alarms amidst fears it could be malfunctioning. A feature allowing users to wave at the device to stop an alarm from sounding is the culprit here, with Nest finding the issue internally. Though it’s not clear if the problem exists for users, Nest has remotely disabled the feature for the time being.
Though Nest says the issue happens “unintentionally”, it’s a major safety concern nonetheless. In a statement, Nest had the following to say:
During recent laboratory testing of the Nest Protect smoke alarm, we observed a unique combination of circumstances that caused us to question whether the Nest Wave (a feature that enables you to turn off your alarm with a wave of the hand) could be unintentionally activated. This could delay an alarm going off if there was a real fire. We identified this problem ourselves and are not aware of any customers who have experienced this, but the fact that it could even potentially happen is extremely important to me and I want to address it immediately.
This also calls into question concerns others have about connected homes, in which a device and features can be remotely controlled. The device is polarizing for its price, and these instances will only serve to perpetuate the polarity of the product. To their credit, Nest has also stopped sale of the devices until a successful patch has been implemented.
Source: Nest