Sony Batterys - Lenovo Recall!!!

[cb474]

Yeah, I agree, the lithium ion issue goes way beyond the Sony batteries. And the problem will only get worse as we get longer and longer lasting batteries with higher energy densities.

Here's a good article about the risk of these batteries on flights, in a column written for Salon by a commercial airline pilot:

Ask the Pilot

One point he makes is that as airlines try to regulate lithium ion battery use, they may intentionally or inadvertently end up encouraging passengers to check batteries, which could be disasterous. Apparenlty a fire in the cargo hold of a passenger plane is a total nightmare and pretty certain to result in a crash. Fires in the passenger compartment can be comparatively well contained and put out by the flight crew. Fires in the cargo hold just burn and there's not much (at least existing) fire suppression systems on planes can do.

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That aside, the Pansonic battery I was sent as a replacement for my recalled Sony had a faulty latch. That's my second Panasonic battery that's failed in some way. This one also seemed much more cheaply put together and loose, than the Sony and Sanyo batteries I've had. I'm sending it back and getting a supposedly new and improved and not explosive Sony battery.