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The story
On October 15, Panasonic announced it is recalling around 640,000 drum-type washer-dryers sold in Japan and Taiwan over a risk of smoke and fire, offering free part replacements. Beyond the sheer size of the recall, discussion centered on the failure path described: leaks from the detergent tank in the auto-dispensing feature degrade the wiring, eventually leading to fire. On 5ch, user comments praising the convenience of “drying finishing automatically” mixed with skeptical voices saying “it’s expensive and still breaks.” Threads also compared Panasonic to other makers like Hitachi and Toshiba, and debated the scale of the repair costs.
Oct 15 (Thu), 16:13 JST
Jiji Press
Panasonic announced on the 15th that it is recalling roughly 640,000 drum-type washer-dryers sold in the Japanese and Taiwanese markets due to a risk of smoke and fire.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Bought mine in '21
Mine's an even pricier model and it's fine lol
Appropriately enough, this story is 'blowing up' (炎上/enjou means both 'catching fire' and 'going viral/getting flamed online')
It catches fire ('hakka'), not a hacker ('hakkā') lol (the two words sound almost the same in Japanese)
Plus the detergent tank is unsanitary.
Yeah, and you can't fine-tune the amount, so it's overpriced for what it does
You guys doing okay?
More worrying: some 'tokuryu' crew (loosely organized crime groups that recruit members anonymously via social media) could steal your repair appointment info and show up at your house
And I doubt you can actually fix this for only ¥10,000 anyway
This is literally just swapping out a plastic detergent container
Stuff like that probably has like a 60% margin, so they'll be fine
They must know it clogs easily, yet they made it needlessly hard to take apart
Detergent leaks,
which degrades the wiring,
which short-circuits and sparks,
which causes a fire — quite the butterfly-effect chain of causation (riffing on the Japanese proverb 'when the wind blows, the bucket maker profits')
Compare that to a 500,000 yen folding iPhone lol
300,000 yen for a washing machine is cute by comparison lol
For anything with rotating parts, Hitachi's the reliable pick I guess
I only trust them for dead-simple appliances like hot plates, honestly
My grandpa bought one on the electronics store clerk's recommendation, and it was genuinely awful
What is this guy even talking about
Must be from a parallel universe
If you're buying Japanese-made, it's basically Panasonic or Hitachi, no other choice
Back then Panasonic sold the smallest units
Best option if you were cramming one into a place for living alone
Even on rainy days, everything's dry by the time I get home
The time I spend on laundry has dropped massively
Cleaning out the lint only takes a minute too
It's become a daily essential for me
Though I still dry Heattech and other delicate stuff in the bathroom dryer
These washers are expensive, but cheap stuff like Heattech counts as 'important clothing'?
Is this contradictory post written by a Panasonic employee?
We're a dual-income household too, so it's essential for us
Coming home to find the drying already done is just godly
Can't say the same with a separate dryer
My wife was impressed by hers too
The real issue is durability though. It's pricey
If you buy a drum washer, buy spare gaskets too
↑
That's just common sense
Drum washers wash by slamming clothes around with very little water, which can damage heating elements and risk fire
That's why electric blanket and heated-vest manuals say not to wash them in drum-type washers
Hitachi's drum washer stinks like crazy when you first start using it…
I gave up on Hitachi
I use Toshiba now and it's more user-friendly than Hitachi
Though it's a bit noisier than Hitachi was
There's also dust getting inside from worn-out drying filter gaskets
There are tons of repair reports on Kakaku.com (a major Japanese price-comparison/review site) and personal blogs — they really should listen to consumers more
Did auto-dispensing even exist 10 years ago?
Well, I do wish the heat pump fins were easier to clean lol
Also, not a washing machine thing, but AC fan units too lol
Background and Key Points of This Story
This recall stems from a flagged failure path: leaks from the detergent tank used by the auto-dispensing feature degrade the wiring, which can lead to fire. Some in the thread joked about the “detergent tank leaks → wiring degrades → fire” chain, but underneath that is a real structural issue — the convenient auto-dispensing mechanism doubles as a point of risk. The recall covers multiple models sold in Japan and Taiwan at a large scale of around 640,000 units, with free part replacement offered, but the thread never got into which specific model numbers are affected or how to apply — an easy detail to overlook, meaning anyone who might be affected needs to check their model number themselves. The discussion was also split between those who find drum washer-dryers a convenient time-saver and those who see them as expensive yet fragile; both views are partly based on real experience, but it’s worth noting these are individual impressions from a small sample.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “[Recall] Panasonic Recalls 640,000 Drum Washer-Dryers Over Fire Risk, Offers Free Part Replacement.”
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