Sure, spontaneous combustion has occurred in a bevy of consumer electronics over the past year or so, but if there was one place even we thought you could count yourself safe, it'd be on the john. Apparently, this assumption is no longer valid for Toto toilet owners, as 180,000 of the company's Z-series units are now being recalled "after wiring problems caused three to catch fire over the past year." The electric bidet accessory is being shown the blame, as the faulty wiring not only torched a trio of units, but also caused smoke to come flowing out of 26 others. As expected, the firm will "repair the potentially fiery units manufactured between May 1996 and December 2001 for free," but we've no idea if Toto will be reimbursing the outhouse rentals for those sans a backup commode.

Sure, talking about toilet seats can be somewhat awkward, but we're fairly certain you'd rather have a seat that sung to you while occupying the restroom than one that, well, didn't. Regardless of whether you're creeped out by a speaker-infused toilet seat or not, Toto is back and better than ever with its new Apricot. The seat maintains the SD slot and MP3 playback abilities of its predecessor, but this rendition also features a few "self-cleaning" abilities, a fragrance emitter, and an automatic light that turns on when it knows you're approaching. Furthermore, it looks to interface with a wall-mounted control unit that can queue up a playlist just as soon as it senses your presence, and as a good steward of the environment, shuts down when not needed to conserve electricity. So if you're strangely curious about sitting on an ultra-clean, sound streaming seat when visiting the bathroom, you can pick up Toto's Apricot next week for a staggering ¥109,200 ($900).

[Via Impress]