Dell Battery Announcement

spuddy

Announcement about batteries overheating / catching fire...
...only caught the end of it on Today FM about 10mins ago.

Did anyone hear the full announcement?

Bluetonic

SAN FRANCISCO/TOKYO (Reuters) - Dell Inc. said on Monday it would recall 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they could overheat and catch fire, in the biggest recall in the 22-year history of the world's largest personal computer maker.

Dell blamed the voluntary recall, issued with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, on the lithium-ion batteries made by Sony Corp. unit Sony Energy Devices Corp., which Dell said could in rare cases produce smoke and catch fire.

The batteries are also used by other computer makers, including Apple Computer Inc., which said it was looking into the issue. Hewlett-Packard Co. said its notebooks were not affected by the recall.

No injuries have been tied to the defect involving the Dell-branded batteries, Dell said. The company has received six reports of batteries overheating, causing damage to furniture and personal belongings, the safety commission said.

Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn said a battery of the type involved the recall was in a Dell laptop that erupted in flames in Osaka, Japan, recently. The incident was captured in photographs sent across the Internet. There has also been a number of recent reports of flaming Dell notebooks.

About 2.7 million of the recalled notebooks are in the United States, Blackburn said.

He also said the recall would have no financial "material impact" on Dell, while Rick Clancy, a spokesman for Sony Electronics Inc. in the United States, said the financial impact of the recall on Sony "is still not fully determined" and partly depends on how many people participate in the recall.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-08-15T063122Z_01_N14331325_RTRUKOC_0_US-DELL-BATTERIES.xml&WTmodLoc=NewsHome-C3-technologyNews-2

iregk

Yes, this actually came out last october! I'm amazed its only hitting the media now.

mikedragon32

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/

DermoMIO

damn it my laptop is one away from the list. on the list there is "F5132" and my battery has "F5133"

Creamy Goodness

why damnit? if your battery is not on the list then your fine.

i've just noticed that 3 laptops in the company that i work for have to be replaced.

serves them right for going to dell and disregarding my advice.

Ruu_Old

Good 'ol Inspiron 1000 *pets*:)

JCB

I'm looking for this number and am i right in saying it's the number given on the charger or is it underneath or inside?

Karoma

JCB wrote:

I'm looking for this number and am i right in saying it's the number given on the charger or is it underneath or inside?

Charger?
https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/Default.aspx?LN=en-US . Read.

Capt'n Midnight

DermoMIO wrote:

damn it my laptop is one away from the list. on the list there is "F5132" and my battery has "F5133"

no new battery then

there will be a lot of happy campers with half dead and totally dead batteries getting new for old

Rb

Heard about this first thing this morning, dodged the list by 1 aswell.

tech

I've a D610 and my battery is ok !

Thelly

JCB- I was fairly confused as to where to find the bar code too(as there are a few different ones on my laptop) . You have to remove the battery - in my case theres a little arrow and you just unclasp it and remove the battery. The bar code is on the underside.

I have an Latitude D610 and luckily unaffected.

Mr. Presentable

Cremo wrote:

why damnit? if your battery is not on the list then your fine.

i've just noticed that 3 laptops in the company that i work for have to be replaced.

serves them right for going to dell and disregarding my advice.

Eh, no, just the batteries!

thewing

Nice one, battery life was down to an hour.....no wonder the thing nearly burned the tops of the thighs!!!

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/08/16/dell_battery_problems/

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is looking at other makes of laptop which use Sony batteries to see if they too pose a fire risk.
...
Sony also supplies batteries to other manufacturers including Apple, HP and Lenovo, according to Reuters. The commission said it was looking at other laptops which use Sony batteries.

Dell says it expects no financial damage from the recall - presumably because Sony will have to pick up the tab. But damage to its reputation might cost more.

What's the bets that Sony laptops use Sony batteries ??

JohnK

Does anyone know if this affects Sony laptops or did they only give the dodgy batteries to other companies?

Creamy Goodness

nipplenuts wrote:

Eh, no, just the batteries!

well sorry, i actually just meant the batteries, obiviously every other component is fine

WillieDH

typical DELL ****e quality,reduce quality risk lives !!!

Blowfish

WillieDH wrote:

typical DELL ****e quality,reduce quality risk lives !!!

Did you not read the article? It's nothing to do with Dell, Sony made the batteries.

Oisinjm

I had a scare there for a minute. Only found out about this 2 days ago. I checked it out and everything matched the thing on the site except the PDII number or something. phew

WillieDH

Blowfish wrote:

Did you not read the article? It's nothing to do with Dell, Sony made the batteries.

I did read the article, the batteries are made by Sony, but as with all OEM deals they are made to the specification of the customer = DELL

So if DELL say they want to save 2p by skinning off some shielding then Sony make it for them.

Plus, who is to say that the batteries are OK, but the overall cooling mechanism in the laptop is not, again a DELL design or approved design.

You've fallen for DELLs PR machine trying to deflect the issue away from them.

W

Capt'n Midnight

so far it looks like SONY are footing the bill so it don't appear to be just an OEM spec thing