Shoddy Color TV Sets Dangerous, Soviet Paper Warns

MOSCOW — Watching television in the Soviet Union can be fatal.

The Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper said Saturday the number of fires caused by defective color television sets that explode totaled 5,490 in 1985, and some of those fires were fatal.

“Statistics show that with every year colored television sets become even more dangerous. In 1980, a total of 2.26 million sets were manufactured and 2,126 fires were reported. Five years later, the number of fires caused by television sets reached 5,490 out of 4.2 million manufactured. People were killed and buildings burned down,” the newspaper said.

The newspaper said the model most likely to explode was the Rubin-714. It said manufacturers have blamed the problems on the poor quality of plastics and picture tubes used in the set.