BBC On-Line News: Lenovo recalls 500,000 batteries

[Nick Y]

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5390948.stm
Friday, 29 September 2006, 05:24 GMT 06:24 UK

Lenovo recalls 500,000 batteries

Chinese computer-maker Lenovo has announced the worldwide recall of more than 500,000 laptop batteries made by Sony because of a fire risk.

The problem affects ThinkPad laptops sold from February 2005 both under its name and the IBM brand.

It follows earlier recalls of Sony batteries by Dell, Apple and Toshiba over the same fire risk.

Lenovo, which took over ThinkPad from IBM in May 2005, said a laptop had caught fire at Los Angeles airport.

'Minimal impact'

The world's third-largest laptop-maker, Lenovo said it will replace the batteries free of charge.

It estimates that between 5% and 10% of ThinkPad laptops sold between February 2005 and this month are affected.

Lenovo spokesman Ray Gorman said the company expects the financial impact of the recall to be "minimal", as Sony is "supporting us financially in this recall".

Dell is recalling 4.1 million Sony batteries, Toshiba 340,000, and Apple 1.8 million.


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Doesn't say which models, but no doubt we will discover more soon.
=====Edit=====

from:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... ATT-LENOVO


Dear Lenovo Customer,

Lenovo and IBM Corporation, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies, have announced the voluntary recall of certain lithium-ion batteries manufactured by Sony Corporation. In the interest of public safety, Lenovo will offer customers free-of-charge replacement batteries for all recalled batteries. View Battery recall FAQs.

IBM and Lenovo sold these Sony batteries in systems listed below between February 2005 and September 2006. Customers who bought one of the following systems may have a battery subject to this recall:

* ThinkPad R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e)
* ThinkPad T Series (T43, T43p, T60)
* ThinkPad X Series (X60, X60s)

Additionally, since these batteries can also be used with ThinkPad T4x Series or ThinkPad R5x Series systems, customers who ordered an extra battery or received a replacement battery for any ThinkPad T4x or ThinkPad R5x Series notebook PC between February 2005 and September 2006 may also have a battery subject to recall.
....

[tfflivemb2]

This has already been posted several times in the Thinkpad General News conference.