Nest has stopped selling the smoke and carbon monoxide alarm Nest Protect because its wave function could delay the alarm going off in case of a fire, according to recent media reports.
The smoke and carbon monoxide detector’s wave function is a unique feature that allows it to be turned off with the wave of a hand, making it easy to silence a false alarm.
But Nest Chief Executive Tony Fadell said in a statement posted at the company’s website that the wave function had a problem.
During recent tests of the product “we observed a unique combination of circumstances that caused us to question whether the Nest wave... could be unintentionally activated. This could delay an alarm going off if there was a real fire,” Fadell said.
The Nest Protect smoke and carbon monoxide alarm has been on the market since October. It sells for $129.
Nest will provide users with a full refund, if they wish, and it will update devices that are connected to the Internet by disabling the wave function, according to the statement.
Internet giant Google bought Nest Labs, makers of networked home thermostats and smoke alarms, for $3.2 billion in January.
Nest was founded by Fadell, a former Apple engineer who was one of the brains behind the iPod.
Sales of the Nest Protect will resume once the issue has been resolved, the statement said.