The Lowdown on Garmin’s Nuvi Recall

GPS manufacturer Garmin is recalling some 1.25 million Nuvi personal navigation devices after detecting potential overheating problems in some of the units, the company announced Wednesday.

The faulty devices have batteries from an unnamed third-party supplier. Used in conjunction with a specific Nuvi printed circuit board (PCB) design, these batteries can “in rare circumstances, increase the possibility of overheating, which may lead to a fire hazard,” the company said in a statement. Only batteries from an unspecified date range are impacted.

Nearly 800,000 of the Nuvi devices were sold in the United States. The defective units include those with model numbers 200W, 250W, 260W, 7xx and 7xxT (where the xx is a two-digit number).

If you’re a Nuvi owner, go to Garmin’s recall site to find out if your device is affected. Once there, enter the device’s serial number. If your Nuvi unit has a PCB design and a battery from a certain data range, you’ll receive instructions on how to return the unit at no charge.

Garmin will repair the defective device by swapping out the battery and placing a spacer on top of the battery next to the PCB. Nuvi owners shouldn’t try to remove or repair the battery on their own.

The company is aware of fewer than 10 Nuvi units that have experienced overheating problems. “None of the reported incidents has caused significant property damage and no injuries have occurred,” Garmin said.