Motorola televisions

2 reports to CPSC, the latest made Oct 19, 2018. A report isn’t a recall.

Watch it to hear when CPSC publishes new reports about it. CPSC’s own search

Watch and the shortlist are kept with a free account, on every device. Your watch list. CPSC’s own search is on saferproducts.gov.

At a glance

From SaferProducts.gov, released Oct 25, 2026.

2reports to CPSC
Oct 19, 2018the latest report was made
Jul 9, 2014the earliest
2with the company’s comments

Brand: Motorola
Maker: ARRIS GroupMakers, importers or sellers, as the reports name them
Product: TelevisionsCPSC’s product type: Televisions (code 572), in Electronics: TV & Video

By month

1 report from November 2017 to October 2018; the most in October 2018, 1. 1 earlier report, since July 2014, is in the table.

The numbers, as a table

Reports to CPSC by the month each was made, newest first
Month	Reports
October 2018	1
July 2014	1

How badly anyone was hurt

Hurt, no treatment 1 CPSC: Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received
No one hurt 1 CPSC: Incident, No Injury

As each report says it, in short words; CPSC’s own words are under each.

The reports, as CPSC published them

Reports people made to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. CPSC publishes each one after sending it to the company named, and doesn’t guarantee they’re accurate. A report isn’t a recall.

Each report is the words of the person who made it, as CPSC published them. The company’s comments, where CPSC published any, are set apart as the company’s own.

CPSC, SaferProducts.gov public database export. Released Oct 25, 2026. Updated daily.

No one hurt
Made Oct 19, 2018, sent to the company Oct 29, 2018, published by CPSC Nov 13, 2018

The product, in the report: Motorola Cable Box Model VIP2250

At 6 am October 18, 2018 we noticed a 1-2 inch flame emitting from the top of our Motorola Cable Box Model VIP2250. This was issued to us by AT&T as part of our U-Verse contract. As soon as we saw this, we unplugged the unit and took it to a safe place.

Model
VIP2250
Serial number
M91325EA6970
Bought from
Not purchased but issued by AT&T
Bought
Oct 1, 2015
Where
Brookfield, Wisconsin: Home/Apartment/Condominium
Who was involved
Unknown
The reporter’s relation to them
Unspecified
As this report names them
Brand Motorola, made or sold by ARRIS Group
How badly, in CPSC’s words
Incident, No Injury

The company’s comments, in its own words

(11/9/2018) ARRIS Group: ARRIS has shipped over 1.5 million VIP2250 units in the US with no confirmed safety issues. Based on the information currently available, ARRIS has no reason to believe that the VIP2250 product poses any safety hazard.
ARRIS and two independent third party labs have thoroughly investigated similar consumer reports for a similar product in Canada. There was no safety hazard. The prior investigation did identify a scenario that could give consumers a mistaken visual impression similar to the consumer’s description provided for this unit. In addition to the earlier investigation, ARRIS has recovered the consumer’s unit and will send it to a lab for analysis.
ARRIS takes all quality and safety issues seriously. ARRIS welcomes any consumers who have questions or concerns about their ARRIS products to contact us at 1-866-36-ARRIS (1-866-362-7747).
Pursuant to 16 C.F.R. 1102.12, ARRIS verifies that it has reviewed the consumer’s account and affirms that the information contained in ARRIS’s comment is true and accurate to the best of ARRIS’s knowledge, information, and belief. ARRIS requests that, if the Consumer Product Safety Commission publishes the CPSC Report # 20181019-643B0-2147384926, that the CPSC publish ARRIS’s comment along with the report. ARRIS consents to such publication of ARRIS’s comment in the Database. (3/20/2019) ARRIS Group: Supplemental Comment: ARRIS was able to recover the consumer’s unit and have it analyzed by a third party lab. The analysis confirmed that, as we expected, there was no safety hazard. ARRIS and two independent third party labs reached the same conclusion with respect to similar issues with a similar product that was thoroughly investigated previously.
ARRIS welcomes any consumers who have questions or concerns about their ARRIS products to contact us at 1-866-36-ARRIS (1-866-362-7747).
Pursuant to 16 C.F.R. 1102.12, ARRIS verifies that it has reviewed the consumer’s account and affirms that the information contained in ARRIS’s comment is true and accurate to the best of ARRIS’s knowledge, information, and belief. ARRIS requests CPSC to publish ARRIS’s comment along with the CPSC Report # 20181019-643B0-2147384926. ARRIS consents to such publication of ARRIS’s comment in the Database.

CPSC report 20181019-643B0-2147384926. Submitter: Consumer Search for it on SaferProducts.gov
Hurt, no treatment
Made Jul 9, 2014, sent to the company Jul 30, 2014, published by CPSC Aug 13, 2014

The product, in the report: Digital Cable Set-top Box Model DCT2224 Looks identical to previous recalled DCT2000: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2002/CPSC-Motorola-Inc-Announce-Recall-of-Digital-Cable-Set-Top-Boxes-/

I was at home watching television in my living room on a sunny afternoon (no storms at all that day) when the Motorola cable box (provided by Comcast) started screaming loudly, and simultaneously a light on the front of the box lit up and the TV blinked off. I grabbed the remote and shut off the TV, but the cable box kept screaming loudly. I ran behind a wall thinking it might blow up, and tried unsuccessfully to shut off the cable box with the remote control. In that very short time, the smell of electrical equipment overheating was apparent, so I ran into the garage and pulled the circuit breakers. By the time I got back to the living room (a minute), the room was filled with smoke and burning odor, so I unplugged the box and took it outside. Both have remained unplugged since that time. Last week Comcast examined for damages/repairs. The Comcast employee/examiner said the cable had been incorrectly installed in my house and was also not properly grounded (done by Comcast, around mid to late 200x). He also said that the cable box that almost caused a fire was very old and had not been used in the county where he works (Montgomery County, MD) for many years. I had just been sent this cable box in 2013, when the previous box quit working following a thunderstorm. At that time, I had asked for new equipment in their Frederick, MD office, and was told they do not have any new equipment available and are giving out only refurbished equipment to customers. I was also told by a Comcast employee on the phone that they would not come out to replace the box, and that I had to either pick one up or receive it by mail and install myself (I was told in a later conversation that this was incorrect and that they should have installed since it was their equipment failure, but this was after the fact.) The Comcast employee who was at my house last week said the cable is coming into my house in the wrong location (not at the electric box), and that it was incorrectly grounded. That is another story, and if installed correctly the circuit might have shut down when the box shorted out. Even so, if the box had not shorted out there would have been no problem to begin with. Hazard: If I had not been in the room where the TV was located and able to take immediate and rapid action to turn off the electricity, the cable box would almost certainly have caused a house fire. Shocking: When I visited the CPSC website today, I decided to browse recalls to see whether other cable TV boxes had been recalled. The Motorola DCT2000, recalled in 2002, looks EXCATLY like the DCT2224 that almost caused a fire in my house! I called Motorola to confirm whether they were the same, and Motorola gave me the run-around and said that the box was now owned by Comcast and they have no information on the DCT2224 model. However, the DCT2000 and DCT2500 have been discontinued. See: http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2002/CPSC-Motorola-Inc-Announce-Recall-of-Digital-Cable-Set-Top-Boxes-/ I fear that anyone with any of these old digital cable boxes is in danger of the same unexpected and rapid electrical malfunction, and that these need to be removed from homes as soon as possible. Another likely danger would be other Comcast cable installations performed by the 2 technicians who did it incorrectly in my house in Frederick County, MD.

Model
DCT2224/1662/ACDEG
UPC
1257200757
Serial number
GI4203NB3378
Bought from
Comcast
Bought
Jul 31, 2013, about then
Where
New Market, Maryland: Home/Apartment/Condominium
Who was involved
Age 61, Female
The reporter’s relation to them
Self
As this report names them
Brand Motorola, made or sold by ARRIS Group
How badly, in CPSC’s words
Injury, No First Aid or Medical Attention Received

The company’s comments, in its own words

(10/15/2014) ARRIS Group: DCT 2224 – Response to CPSC Report #20140709-6647C-2147443018
ARRIS takes all quality and safety issues seriously. After receiving this report regarding a DCT2224 unit and an apparently improperly installed cable line with no grounding, our product quality team promptly reviewed the report as well as the history of this product to determine whether there are any safety concerns with the DCT2224. Based on that review and the statements in the consumer’s report, ARRIS has no reason to believe that the DCT2224 product poses a hazard to consumers.
Specifically, ARRIS notes the following:
-DCT2224 units have been in use by consumers for over a decade, with over 8 million units sold. ARRIS regularly receives feedback from its customers about its products and has never received a report of a DCT2224 unit catching on fire.
- The consumer’s report links to a twelve-year-old recall of other products for a different issue that was resolved long ago. Specifically, that 2002 recall was for certain DCT2000 models manufactured between late February 2002 and May 2002. The recall did not include the unit owned by the consumer. Moreover, the issue in the recall was a possible electric shock when unplugging the unit. The 2002 recall did not involve a fire risk.
- According to the consumer’s account, the consumer still has the unit, and with the consumer opting to withhold her contact information, ARRIS has been unable to retrieve and examine the unit. That said, it appears from the consumer’s account that the issue was caused by an improperly installed cable line. According to the account, a Comcast employee examined the unit and determined that the cable coming into the consumer’s house had been incorrectly installed, was in the wrong location, and was not properly grounded. Such improper installation could cause an electrical overstress on the unit. ARRIS supplies an installation manual with all units that provides detailed instructions about proper installation and emphasizes the importance of proper grounding. The DCT2224 instructions state the following on page 2: “NOTE TO CATV INSTALLER: This reminder is provided to call CATV system installer’s attention to Article 820-40 of the NEC that provides guidelines for proper grounding and, in particular, specifies that the cable ground shall be connected to the grounding system of the building, as close as possible to the point of cable entry as practical.”
- ARRIS welcomes any consumers who have questions or concerns about their ARRIS products to contact us at 1-866-36-ARRIS (1-866-362-7747).
Pursuant to 16 C.F.R. 1102.12, ARRIS verifies that it has reviewed the consumer’s account and affirms that the information contained in ARRIS’s comment is true and accurate to the best of ARRIS’s knowledge, information, and belief. ARRIS requests that the Consumer Product Safety Commission publish ARRIS’s comment in the Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database on SaferProducts.gov and consents to such publication in the Database.

CPSC report 20140709-6647C-2147443018. Submitter: Consumer Search for it on SaferProducts.gov

CPSC’s disclaimer

Disclaimer: CPSC does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of the Publicly Available Consumer Product Safety Information Database on SaferProducts.gov, particularly with respect to information submitted by people outside of CPSC.

Word for word, from the disclaimer in CPSC’s export.

Sources

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, SaferProducts.gov public database export.

Released Oct 25, 2026 and checked Oct 25, 2026. Updated daily. Public domain (U.S. Government work). CPSC asks to be credited, and that no endorsement be implied.

Reports of harm are from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), on SaferProducts.gov. CPSC does not endorse Hearth Record.

Motorola televisions

At a glance

By month

How badly anyone was hurt

The reports, as CPSC published them

CPSC’s disclaimer

Sources

How to read a record

Every fact names its source.

A number never stands alone.

What needs attention is marked.

The public record comes first.