Is your cell phone feeling a little extra toasty after a long chat? Well, if it's one of 46 million made by Nokia it could be part of a massive battery recall.
On Tuesday, Nokia, the world's largest cell phone maker, said that a batch of cell phone batteries that were made for the company between December 2005 and November 2006 have been overheating. The company said that around 100 incidents of overheating have been reported, but no one has reported serious injuries or property damage.
The phone batteries affected were made by Japanese manufacturer Matsushita Electric Industrial. The company said it didn't expect the phones to catch on fire, but the overheating did cause phones to short-circuit.
Nokia said that the issue has been limited to the 46 million BL-5C batteries made for Nokia between December 2005 and November 2006. Despite the fact that this type of battery is used in over 30 different mobile phone models, Nokia said only a small proportion of devices were affected. The company has listed the specific phones that have been affected on its Web site.
Nokia has several other suppliers for the BL-5C battery, but only the batteries made by Matsushita Electric Industrial during the specified period have been recalled.
Laptop makers have also been forced to recall batteries for overheating. Earlier this summer, Toshiba recalled some 10,000 batteries made by Sony that were used in laptops, because they posed fire risks. And last summer, Dell announced it was recalling 4.1 million batteries made by Sony that could short-circuit and cause a fire. Dell's recall was followed by Apple, which said some 1.8 million Sony batteries had been affected.
Yes, you've seen this headline before. For the third month in a row, Toshiba customers are being urged to exchange potentially dangerous notebook batteries for the nonexploding kind.
This time around, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says 1,400 of the lithium-ion batteries containing Sony-made cells sold with Toshiba laptops pose a fire hazard. There have been three reports of models with those batteries overheating in other countries, but none of the incidents caused injury, according to the CPSC.
Users of Toshiba's Satellite A100, Satellite A105 and Tecra A7, it's your turn. If your notebook was made between January through June 2006, you are eligible for a free replacement battery from the company by going to Toshiba's battery replacement Web site. In the meantime, the notebooks can still be used with the power cord and no battery.
Toshiba recalled 5,100 Sony batteries in July, and in June urged customers to send in for a new battery after reports of one catching fire and burning a desk in Great Britain.
Still, the latest number of defective batteries seems minor in comparison to last fall's massive recall, which affected more than 9 million notebooks from most major PC makers.
Gateway is recalling 14,000 lithium-ion notebook batteries, the company said Tuesday.
The announcement comes after four reports of Gateway notebooks overheating over the last few years. One of the incidents caused "minor property damage," according to Gateway. The batteries in question are used in two models of its notebooks, the 400VTX and 450ROG, sold in the U.S. between May and August 2003.
"The root cause of this battery failure became apparent as the batteries aged and performed repetitive recharging cycles. After an in-depth analysis of the four reported incidents, Gateway took proactive measures to launch a voluntary battery exchange program in the interest of customer safety," said company spokeswoman Lisa Emard.
Gateway says Simplo battery packs containing Samsung cells are to blame in the four incidents. This recall is separate from last year's massive recall of more than 10 million Sony-made notebook batteries by most of the major PC manufacturers, including Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Acer, Gateway and others. The Sony batteries in question were short circuiting due to a defect in the manufacturing process, and PC makers were forced to look to other battery makers, like Simplo, to fill emergency orders.
Gateway says customers can contact the company directly to find out if their battery is on the list and get a free replacement.
Here's a good rule of thumb: when a product is recalled for, say, bursting into flames, take the time to get the replacement.
A Toshiba laptop containing a recalled Sony battery caught fire and burned a desk in Great Britain last month, Toshiba said today. The laptop maker asked Sony to investigate the incident, and a short circuit in the battery pack was deemed the culprit. Toshiba says it will reach out to customers to ensure they are aware of the potential danger of continuing use of recalled batteries. A list of 28 models of affected laptop will be posted to its Web site, and Toshiba will send e-mail notifications to its customers.
Since fall 2006, Dell, Apple, Sony, Toshiba, Lenovo, Sharp, Panasonic and Acer each have issued recalls of Sony lithium-ion cell batteries after multiple reports of laptops exploding or catching on fire. In all, more than 10 million batteries were pronounced defective.
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