Apple to recall 1.8 million notebook batteries

[linuxgeek]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14500443/

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple Computer Inc. will recall 1.8 million lithium-ion notebook batteries after nine devices overheated, causing minor burns in two users, U.S. safety regulators said Thursday.

The recall is the second-biggest in U.S. history involving electronics or computers, after No. 1 PC maker Dell Inc. recalled 4.1 million lithium-ion batteries last week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. In both cases the batteries had power cells made by Sony Corp..

Cupertino, California-based Apple will recall 1.1 million batteries sold with notebooks in the United States and 700,000 abroad, the safety agency said. They were sold with Apple iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 computers from October 2003, through this month, according to the safety commission.

 

[Marathonman]

Do you think Sony will take some sort of public perception hit?

 

[Adrenaline]

https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/index.html

Here's the proper link to discover if your laptop is on the recall list. The link in the news article didn't work for me.

*whew* Thank god I stayed away from those 12 inches.

 

[Acanthus]

Sony is losing a LOT of money over this.

 

[Nostalgy_Prince]

Wonder if Sony was just too greedy and took too many shortcuts in the design and/or the production.

It's such an horribly big error it's not funny. And it's not as if it was the first time they fiddled in power cells

Up to their old tricks, it seems ...

 

[Acanthus]

Wonder if Sony was just too greedy and took too many shortcuts in the design and/or the production.

It's such an horribly big error it's not funny. And it's not as if it was the first time they fiddled in power cells

Up to their old tricks, it seems ...

Yeah, apple had another recall related to sony batteries a few years back.

The problem is so intermittent that it may not have been detectable. We are talking dozens out millions being bad.

 

[linuxgeek]

for what is happening, it is like the battery is internally shorting out. like the insulator/electrolight is just a hare too thin.

 

[Acanthus]

for what is happening, it is like the battery is internally shorting out. like the insulator/electrolight is just a hare too thin.

Thats really what it seems like to me, but it is my understanding that the battery still functions enough to where users think its normal, so its not like they are getting 20 minutes on a full charge or anything.

 

[linuxgeek]

I haven't followed under what conditions the batteries combust. but I wouldn't be surprized if the heat generated by the laptop may be enough to cause an expansion or compression of material as things expand within the battery which leads to the short.

 

[The Heretic]

https://support.apple.com/ibook_powerbook/batteryexchange/index.html

Here's the proper link to discover if your laptop is on the recall list. The link in the news article didn't work for me.

*whew* Thank god I stayed away from those 12 inches.

It is not all of the 12 inchers - just some of them. Neither of the batteries for my 12 inch PB are affected - darn it! One of them only lasts for about an hour now and I was hoping I would get a new battery out of this.

 

[The Heretic]

Sony is losing a LOT of money over this.

I read an estimate of between $200 and $300 Million.