Suit Against Toshiba Unit Says It Sold Bad Diskettes

Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., a unit of Toshiba Corp.’s U.S. holding company, was sued by customers who claim they were sold faulty computer equipment.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Beaumont, Texas, claims Toshiba’s floppy diskette controllers fail to detect errors that can cause the destruction of data. The plaintiffs are asking for class-action status.

Irvine-based Toshiba America Information couldn’t be reached for comment.

The floppy diskette controllers, which transfer information between data storage devices, should pick up errors resulting from the transfer process. Normally, when such errors are detected, a program rewrites the data so it can be stored.

The Toshiba devices allegedly verify to customers that data is recorded correctly even when it’s not, resulting in information being lost without the customer’s notice.

“To function today, we must trust computers and the data they store,” the plaintiffs said in the suit. “Defendants must be held accountable for the damage they have done.”

The plaintiffs, who say Toshiba has known about the problems with the controllers for over 10 years, are asking for unspecified damages.

Toshiba is the world’s largest notebook computer maker.