Intel-owned Basis issues full recall of Peak fitness watches

Intel-owned Basis yesterday issued a full recall over its Peak fitness watches that posed a burn hazard.

''We are issuing this safety recall of the Basis Peak watch because the watch can overheat, which could result in burns or blisters on the skin surface,'' said Intel senior VP Josh Walden. ''It is important that you stop using your watch immediately and return it.''

Basis Peak watches manufactured from August 2014 to July 2015 are impacted by the recall. These were sold from November 2014 until June 2016. The recall will impact all Basis Peak watches ever sold, irrespective of manufacturing and sale date.

According to Basis officials of all the watches sold, only 0.2 per cent had reported injuries.

The recall would not affect the Basis B1, but the company had offered full refunds for those since June as well.

Basis had for months struggled to fix the problem in its fitness watch which could overheat and cause blistering. In June, the company called on users to stop wearing it and started offering full refunds while it worked on a solution.

Yesterday it became clear that no fix was available.

Many smartwatches monitor heart rate only occasionally, but the Peak continually monitors heart rate using an active LED on the back of the device.

In some situations the LED, appeared to have caused burn injuries when the watch overheated.

Intel has known since at least June that its Basis Peak smartwatch tended to overheat, and cause blisters or burns on the skin. And a software update to fix the problem, did not work, the company issued a complete safety recall voluntarily and apologised, saying in a statement, ''It is important that you stop using your watch immediately and return it.''

Intel is offering a complete refund for both the smartwatch and authorised accessories, once the owners of the device returned them to the company.

According to the company's statement, customers everywhere would be refunded $344 for Basis Titanium devices, which included taxes and shipping.

The refund for the Basis Peak devices differed for various countries, but US customers would receive $234, including taxes and shipping.