Ron Schenone

The Myth Of The Sony ‘Kill Switch’ Plagues The Company

Posted by on Jan 25, 2010 | 11 Comments

It seems that in Japan, there is a myth that has been spread for over 20 years, that Sony has a built in ‘kill switch’ that activates when the warranty expires. The myth was further enhanced when Sony had to recall millions of laptop batteries that added fuel to the fire. To the people of Japan this confirmed the ‘kill switch’ myth, which Sony strongly denies.

But it gets better. In a recent article it states that:

Their campaign clearly isn’t going that well: the phrase has now become so common that Sony products are often avoided in Japan due to a genuine belief that they just don’t last. The Playstation 3 still remains highly popular as it is allegedly exempt from the timers’ curse, but VAIO laptops, particularly among younger Japanese, are purchased with some hesitation.

Many people believe Sony products last just long enough for the company to bring out a replacement generation. Rumors have even emerged recently that the timers are controlled remotely by the company and set off just when a new laptop is due out. Google searches in Japan add fuel to this fire with VAIO laptop breakages increasing around a year after their release. In fact a google search on the subject will return more than half a million Japanese related hits.

I never heard of this myth until I read about it this morning. I would seriously doubt that there is any truth in this fable. I am sure we have all heard about a ‘kill switch’ built into American cars as well. None of these rumors have ever proved to be true.

Comments welcome.

Source.

  • D

    If this were true for American cars…or any car for that matter…it means all the beaters I’ve owned for the past 20 years would’ve never lasted me that 3-5 years I get out of everyone of them. The reason I own them is I hate car payments & being in debt for anything other than paying rent & bills.

  • Ryan Farmer

    And US laptops don’t even last that long. They just send it back to you stating that they were unable to reproduce the problem but they updated your BIOS for you.

    Happened to me when I sent in a Compaq Presario.

  • Ducote

    I hope this isn’t true,my warranty on my laptop expires in 2 da…..

  • Ashram

    I don’t believe there is a kill switch.

    But, this may be symptomatic of a greater issue: Sony is slipping in quality control.

    I believe a big part of this is Sony’s leadership; I honestly do not believe the people currently running the company truly care about its long term prospects.

    When it was originally run by people who were passionate about Sony and its products (the founders and their chosen successors), Sony truly innovated and made stuff that performed well and lasted a long time.

    But, things began to fall apart the moment Norio Ohga stepped down and Nobuyuki Idei took over as CEO.

    Sir Howard Stringer is the current CEO and things haven’t gotten better. I believe it’s because he was never part of the company when it was growing so he could never appreciate what it took to get Sony to where it was and to put forth effort to keep it there.

    I’ll bet, to Mr. Stringer, Sony is a way to make the bottom line to the stockholders so he can earn his pay.

    When Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka were leading Sony, they were concerned about delivering exactly what the customer paid for; superior product and superior service.

  • Kevin

    They likely have one in most Apple products – but they are RARELY triggered as the Fanboys/girls and the Sheeple of the world just go out and buy a new iWhatever the day that it’s released…
    ;) ;)

  • ronatola

    DUCOTE – that was hillario

  • Bruce

    I bought my wife a new Sony VAIO for Christmas – a cute pink one… anyway, what a piece of crap! The touchpad is nearly unusable due to static electricity issues. After she sits down, pets the dog or even moves in her chair, the cursor goes crazy and is uncontrollable for up to 5 minutes. I had to rig up an anti-static sheet under the computer and a grounded wire she holds onto to discharge the static. The Sony craputer doesn’t even have a three-prong grounding plug! The left side of the craputer shocks her when she touches it. All Sony tells me to do is re-load the frigging touchpad drivers. Even though the problem is all over the internet, they totally deny it is a hardware issue and say to reload the drivers. Do you think they’ll be able to replicate the static problem in a sterile computer lab? Nah, me either. I’ll just throw it away and buy her another brand when she finally tires of messing with the piece of junk. I’ll never buy another Sony product, period, again.

  • Exothermicus

    I know of one major Appliance manufacturer; that does extensive wear and tear research to determine just how rugged the parts need to be in their products so that they last longer than the warranty, but not so long that they kill their future sales.

    Exo

  • fallen1

    based on my personal experiences with Sony products, I don’t think they could build a kill switch that lasted long enough to kick in. my personal experiences with more than 2 dozen Sony products over a 20+ year span has been that, with the exception of a single pair of headphones, none of them lasted more than 3 months beyond their warranty.

    I have so completely given up on Sony that I not only refuse to buy any of their products I also refuse to accept any of their products as gifts. My friends and family know that if they gave me something made by Sony I’d either hand it back or head straight to the store to exchange it.

  • HarryH

    Odd that this appeared. I have had nothing but trouble with a variety of Sony branded products – tape recorders, CD players, tvs, you name it. I just thought Sony had it out for me so I quit buying the brand. As with fallen1, I avoid them.

  • Cliff Wells

    It’s not a kill-switch and it’s not specific to any particular vendor. It’s called “value engineering” and it was pioneered by General Electric. It’s a “solution” to a problem where a speedometer can last 1M miles while the car it’s put in can only last 200K miles: make the speedo out of cheaper parts and materials. With some engineering and good luck, a manufacturer can make a product last just as long as the warranty. It’s why a car will suddenly develop a slew of issues all at once after running normally for a long period.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_engineering
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence