Dell..... I'm recalling yoooooouuuuuu!

[bill bolton]

Dell announces recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries
Last Updated Mon, 14 Aug 2006 22:15:31 EDT
CBC News

Dell Inc. announced Monday it would voluntarily recall 4.1 million notebook computer batteries worldwide that risk overheating and catching fire.

The batteries in question, made by Sony Corp., are in notebooks shipped between April 1, 2004, and July 18 of this year.

"In rare cases, a short-circuit could cause the battery to overheat, causing a risk of smoke and [or] fire," said Ira Williams, a Dell spokesman. "It happens in rare cases, but we opted to take this broad action immediately."

The recall was launched in co-operation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The recalled batteries were sold with the following Dell notebook computers: Dell Latitude(TM) D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810; Inspiron(TM) 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m, 6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400, E1705; and Dell Precision(TM) M20, M60, M70 and M90 mobile workstations; and XPS(TM), XPS Gen2, XPS M170 and XPS M1710.

The recalled batteries were used in 2.7 million Dell computers sold in the U.S. and 1.4 million sold overseas, according to Dell. It is not yet known how many computers sold in Canada might be affected.

Customers are advised to contact Dell immediately to determine if their notebook computer battery is part of this recall, at www.dellbatteryprogram.com or toll-free at 1-866-342-0011.

Customers may continue to use the notebook computers safely by turning the system off, ejecting the battery, and using the AC adapter and power cord to power the system until the replacement battery is received.

The company confirmed that one of its laptops caught fire in Illinois. There have been reports elsewhere in the U.S. and in Japan.

Dell officials declined to say how much the recall campaign would cost or what portion, if any, Sony would pay. Sony officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dell recalled 22,000 notebook computer batteries last December after symptoms that were similar to those that prompted Monday's recall. The company also recalled 284,000 batteries in 2001.

With files from the Associated Press

http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/nation ... ecall.html

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Cheers,

Bill

[christopher_wolf]

Yay! What fun....My M60 Precision (former Dell) and other old Dells (700m, D600, 9300) made the list! I would feel kind of proud about that, except that is like feeling proud about a computer that you built actually turns on without electrocuting you; or, as the case may be, causing severe bodily harm via a battery that doubles as an incendiary device.

I can assure you that, at best, I will only get 50% of the batteries serviced. Why? I had no luck convincing Dell support to do so back during the first, or second as I forget which, battery recall; so what makes me think I am going to get anything from them now?


Great post, Bill.

[stone]

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2004/1 ... or_recall/

what's next

[snife]

I suppose it is to much for me to hope that this will bankrupt Dell but at least it might teach them to stop cutting corners a bit and bring some common sense back to the computer industry.

[K. Eng]

This will likely hurt Sony more than Dell. It also makes me wonder if there are other batteries out there that exhibit the same fault, since Sony makes battery packs for many computer manufacturers.

I suppose it is to much for me to hope that this will bankrupt Dell but at least it might teach them to stop cutting corners a bit and bring some common sense back to the computer industry.

[christopher_wolf]

This will likely hurt Sony more than Dell. It also makes me wonder if there are other batteries out there that exhibit the same fault, since Sony makes battery packs for many computer manufacturers.

Well, wayyy back, Apple caught an issue with their laptops, before they shipped luckily, that had Sony batteries in them. The batteries would overheat and could have caught fire. Sony might very well be no stranger to this kind of thing now.

By the way, Sony used to, and still does to a certain extent, make batteries for the Thinkpads along with Sanyo and Panasonic. Yet I haven't heard of any of those batteries exploding. It was probably Dell being the lowest bidder, as usual, and having Sony build them the cheapest battery they could have pass certain tests. Dell has always requested parts, be they standard or non-standard, from their suppliers at the least amount of cost to them; after that, they assemble them and expect it to work since, individually tested by the supplier to work fine, should mean that they work fine all connected together, right? Right? So I wouldn't be suprised if Dell shifted the blame to Sony and ran.

[pianowizard]

So, when Dell laptops have battery problems, it's Dell's fault. Lenovo is recalling their laptop batteries for the second time in less than half a year. What do you guys think this means? Not Lenovo's fault?

[Manarius]

So, when Dell laptops have battery problems, it's Dell's fault. Lenovo is recalling their laptop batteries for the second time in less than half a year. What do you guys think this means? Not Lenovo's fault?

Sanyo made the batteries, not Lenovo.

[pianowizard]

Sanyo made the batteries, not Lenovo.

Sony made the batteries for Dell laptops, but Thinkpad diehards claimed that's Dell's fault. I would like to see what these same people have to say about Lenovo's battery recalls.

[KristianJ]

Another recall for Sony-made batteries:

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml09/09035.html

[SaberX]

thanks for the link.
I just checked out the two Dell batterys i have here and they are not in the list.
If i remmber , Sony laptop batterys always had problems.
Seems like if theres a laptop battery recall it's always Sony.

[AlphaKilo470]

If I'm not mistaken, it was Sony who manufactured the lithium ion batteries originally intended to ship in the infamous PowerBook 5300 line back in 1995. After an incident with laptops exploding before they were even shipped out, Apple ended up retrofitting every shipping 5300 with a NiMH battery.

Funny enough, the battery in my Fujitsu 486 laptop is a lithium ion manufactured by Sony and it's still functioning perfectly despite being 13 years old; same age as the PowerBook 5300.

[Temetka]

Yes, it was the 5300 that Sony made the battery for.

However my Sony made battery for my 5300 works fine. Although due to age I only get about 40 minutes of battery life, but hey it's ancient and still works.

I don't think *Every* 5300 was affected by this. I have a 5300ce if it makes any difference. Oh and I still use the machine on a semi-regular basis.