A software update from Samsung froze its own smart fridges

Samsung has stopped rolling out a SmartThings update to its smart refrigerators in Korea after a number of owners reported serious malfunctions, ZDNET Korea reports.

On Samsung's Korea Community forum, users said their fridges had stopped working completely, leaving food to spoil. Other symptoms included the automatic door-opening feature refusing to operate and the interior lights failing to come on.

An official admission

A company representative confirmed the problem on the forum. According to the statement, an error occurred on September 22 during testing of a software update for the fridges, causing abnormal behaviour in the power and screen of some customers' units. Samsung said it was taking "emergency measures" as a top priority through its Electronics Service Centers.

What makes the episode especially troubling is that the fault apparently arose while the update was still being tested. That raises an obvious question: how did a work-in-progress build reach real users' fridges at all? ZDNet Korea, citing Samsung, blames a "system error"; the company has since halted distribution of the update.

What affected owners can do

Samsung advises affected customers to contact a service center. Users report that technicians have been replacing the motherboard inside the faulty fridges. Many, however, are demanding compensation for their spoiled food — all the more so because the timing could hardly be worse, with Korea celebrating the Chuseok holiday on Friday.

The incident is yet another reminder of the risks that come with internet-connected appliances. The convenience of cross-device integration brings a new fragility with it: a single bad update can turn a refrigerator into a useless cabinet.

Source: Hacker News