Samsung faces U.S. class action lawsuit over defective TVs

U.S. consumers have filed class action suits against Samsung Electronics Co. as some of its TV models sold in the U.S. are found to have problems with power failures, the South Korean firm said Thursday.

U.S. consumers have been complaining about some types of Samsung’s flat-screen TVs sold between 2006 and 2008 as they found problems with a power storage device called a capacitor, making it difficult for the TVs to power up.

U.S. consumers have lodged class action lawsuits against the world’s largest TV maker in New Jersey, California and Oklahoma, it added.

Under a preliminary court settlement in the state of Oklahoma, Samsung said it will continue to provide free repairs that have already been offered to affected consumers, according to the Website of CBS Miami.

The report said more than 7 million Samsung TVs have been plagued by the defective power problems, but Samsung said the number of affected consumers is far smaller than the figures while declining to comment on specific numbers.

Regarding the issue, Samsung said since early 2010, the company has voluntarily offered free repairs for U.S. consumers with affected TVs.

“There are no problems with recently released TV models,” a Samsung spokesman said. “No failure has been reported on TV sets in the domestic market as they are different from TV models sold in the U.S.”

The Korean firm said it aims to sell around 50 million units of flat-screen TVs this year, 50 percent of which it hopes will be smart TVs. 

(Yonhap News)