Battery recall by lenovo..

[JaneL]

here is a reprint of the WSJ article..

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

[syrahnose]

The recall doesn't appear to be very well thought out. I went to the web page and it says you must send in your old battery before they will send back a replacement, which could take 3-4 weeks. in the mean time, users are expected to go forego the use of their laptop when it can't be plugged in.

Seems like lenovo ought to be sending the batteries out first, then exchanging after the fact. Or have batteries immediately available before requiring users to give up the full use of their laptops.

When is a portable, not a portable? If your laptop is not available for use of the type it was bought for, and down for a month, shouldn't lenovo extend the warranty to compensate for that period of nonuse?

[boofoo]

I have one of the affected Sony batteries (FRU 92P1169), but when I fill out the online form with the serial number, or run the program that checks it automatically, it claims that my battery is not part of the recall. Is this an error? Or are they only recalling certain serial number ranges?

Has anyone else had the same experience?

In any case, I can't live without a battery for a month, so I'll wait until there's a little more information and perhaps until the turnaround time is shorter.

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.

[lavoiep]

I have one of the affected 8-cells in my x60. To clarify the procedure, I was told that they would ship me a new battery and once I received it I had a month to return the old battery. They said it would be 2-4 weeks before I received the new battery.

[JaneL]

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.

This was just an announcement. There is a open thread for discussion in the General News conference at http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=31013