Thinkpads Forum

BillMorrow wrote:here is a reprint of the WSJ article..

Wall Street Journal wrote: Sony Is Hit With More Battery Woes

Lenovo Recall Is Latest Blow,
Spurring Company to Begin
Global Replacement Plan
By JANE SPENCER and COREY DADE, WSJ
September 29, 2006

Lenovo Group Ltd. recalled 526,000 batteries manufactured by Sony Corp. for use in Lenovo's IBM ThinkPad laptop computers, the latest recall stemming from fire-safety concerns over Sony-made batteries.

Following Lenovo's recall announcement, Sony said it will initiate "a global replacement program" for certain battery packs using Sony-made lithium ion cells. The Japanese company provided few details about the program, but people familiar with the move said it signals that the company is planning a large battery recall on the scale of those recently done by Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc.

Sony has entered discussions with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish the scope of the recall, which includes determining whether a battery-exchange program would be enacted in the U.S. only or world-wide, and how many batteries would affected, people familiar with the matter said. Sony didn't elaborate on the program but said, "In the overall interest of our customer's satisfaction, we wanted to go out there and be proactive."


Learn more about Sony's laptop batteries.The safety of Lenovo's batteries was called into question in mid-September after an IBM ThinkPad caught fire at Los Angeles International Airport. A Sony spokesman said the company wasn't sure "what the cause is. It may not be related to the Apple and Dell situations."

Lenovo became the world's third-largest PC maker after its acquisition of International Business Machines Corp.'s personal-computers business in May 2005. The batteries it recalled contain the same Sony parts as those used by Dell and Apple in their affected PCs. In August, Dell issued the largest consumer-electronics recall to date, involving 4.1 million laptops with Sony batteries. Apple followed, recalling 1.8 million laptops to replace the same type of Sony battery.

Sony said in August that it expected to incur costs of about $170 million to $255 million related to the Apple and Dell recalls. Lenovo said Sony will help shoulder the cost of battery replacements in the most recent recall, and expects Lenovo will incur "minimal" costs.

Lenovo's recall applies to nine IBM ThinkPad models sold since February 2005, including the T43, which is popular among business users. The recall applies to about 5% to 10% of Lenovo laptops shipped during the period, Lenovo said.

In the Los Angeles incident, a passenger who had charged his laptop at the airport, boarded a plane and then realized his computer bag was smoking. He ran off the plane, and the overheated notebook computer began throwing off sparks, Lenovo said.

"Quite frankly, we still haven't reached any final conclusions about what went wrong," said Lenovo spokesman Ray Gorman. "But we reacted in the interest of public safety, and that's why we're doing this recall."

When Lenovo's competitors announced recalls in August, the company said it had no plans to issue its own recall, because its battery packs were designed to "fail safely" by shutting down before extreme overheating.

Lenovo's recall would be on a smaller scale than those by Apple and Dell, in part because Sony isn't Lenovo's primary battery supplier. The company's largest battery-component supplier is Sanyo Electric Co. of Japan.

AFFECTED MODELS
The recalled batteries were sold with or sold separately to be used with some models of ThinkPad notebook PCs.
• T Series (T43, T43p, T60)

• X Series (X60, X60s)

• R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e)

Battery Part/Model Number
ASM P/N FRU P/N
92P1072 92P1073
92P1088 92P1089
92P1142 92P1141
92P1170 92P1169 or 93P5028
92P1174 92P1173 or 93P5030

Source: Lenovo
BATTERY ASSAULT

Recent laptop battery recalls due to potential fire hazards:
• Aug. 24: Apple recalls 1.8 million (700,000 in the U.S.).

• Aug. 15: Dell recalls 4.1 million (2.7 million in U.S.).

• April 20: Hewlett- Packard recalls 15,700 (4,100 in U.S.).

Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
PRODUCTS & PROFITS

boofoo wrote:Perhaps people who are affected could post their experiences here, so we can get an idea of what will be involved. It would be helpful if folks could post, when they send their batteries in, what Lenovo's estimated time was and later when they receive replacement batteries, how long it took.