Anker recalls dangerous USB-C cables in the US

Manufacturer Anker recalls the American variant of a USB-C cable that endangered the batteries of smartphones, among other things. Anker gives customers the money back and sends a new, safe cable if it made one.

Although Anker is recalling the cable, users do not have to return it, according to Anker’s statement that Google engineer Benson Leung posted on Google+. The cable is also no longer for sale on Amazon.com. The web store gives a message that it is not available.

It is unknown whether Anker will also recall the cable, with a USB-c connector on both sides, in Europe. The type number in question is A8185011, but in the British Amazon webshop there is a cable with the same specs with type number A8181011 and on Amazon’s German site a cable with A8185011 as type number and both are still for sale. It is unknown whether they are also dangerous. There are also longer variants of the cable on the market.

The problem that Leung and Nathan K. both found on Google+ is that there doesn’t seem to be good resistance in the cables. It ‘remembers’ the last method of loading. So if you first charge a MacBook with 15V, for example, and then use the cable in a phone with USB-C, you can damage your battery. In addition, the claimed power is incorrect, although that is not dangerous. The cable can only deliver up to 60W of power, but the manufacturer claims 100W.

Leung has been analyzing USB-C cables and their possible dangers for some time now. Last year, he compiled a list he still maintains of cables that are good and cables that may pose a hazard because they don’t quite follow the USB-C standard.