By Jimmy Daniels
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews
More Sony laptop batteries have been recalled, this time 526,000 by IBM and Lenovo, citing a potential risk following the one confirmed report of a Sony battery overheating and causing one of their laptops to catch on fire. The following models, if purchased by February 2005 and September 2006, are affected, ThinkPad notebook computers: T Series (T43, T43p, T60); R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e); and X Series (X60, X60s).
Some 526,000 batteries used in ThinkPad notebook computers worldwide are being recalled in the latest problem with batteries made by Sony Corp., the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
IBM Corp., based in Armonk, N.Y., and Lenovo Inc. of Research Triangle Park, N.C., recalled the rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries used in ThinkPad computers because they may pose a fire hazard. About 168,500 of the batteries were sold in the U.S., while the rest were distributed worldwide, the CPSC said.
It was the fourth recall in recent months involving Sony batteries believed to be defective. In August, Dell asked customers to return 4.1 million faulty laptop batteries and Apple recalled 1.8 million batteries worldwide, warning they could catch fire. Last week, Toshiba said it was recalling 340,000 laptop batteries due to a problem that caused the laptops to sometimes run out of power. Source: Yahoo
We Say: We have reported about these Sony batteries many times, here, here, here, here, here, and here, and probably many others that I have missed, but it all started with a Dell notebook exploding in Japan. Wonder how many more we will have? And why did it take IBM so long to make their recall?
[...] China must be taking lessons from Sony in terms of battery problems. Though really, if you’ve been tracking the news, this is just the latest in a series of safety problems stemming from products from China, from melamine in dog food, unsafe Thomas the Tank Engine toys, diethylene glycol-laced toothpaste, recalled tires. Now there are exploding cell phone batteries. Chinese regulators in the southern Guangdong Province, one of the world’s biggest electronics manufacturing centers, said this week that they had found Motorola and Nokia mobile phone batteries that failed safety tests and were prone to explode under certain conditions. [...]