Dell expands battery recall by 100,000; Fujitsu considers action
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Dell Inc. has now recalled 4.2 million battery packs made by Sony, 100,000 more than  it initially recalled in August. Altogether, various laptop makers have recalled 6.5 million batteries because of fire hazards.
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(InfoWorld) - Following a series of massive notebook PC battery recalls in August, a group of PC vendors met last week to seek safer lithium ion cells, resolving to draft an improved standard for battery manufacturing and quality control by the second quarter of 2007. About 20 representatives, including people from Dell Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Polycom Inc. met Sept. 13 in San Jose, California, said Kimberly Sterling, a spokeswoman for IPC, an electronics industry group whose full name is the Association Connecting Electronics Industries. Sterling said some additional companies participated, but declined to name them or indicate how many there were. The companies are trying to allay consumer fears afterÂ a handful of batteries in notebook PCs overheated, some bursting into flames and injuring their users. However, their efforts may be hindered by the absence of Sony Electronics Inc. and possibly Apple Computer Inc. as well, since those companies may not abide by the standard without having an opportunity to help draft it. Sony wouldn't commit to following the IPC advice until it collects further information, said Sony spokesman John Dolak. Sony skipped the meeting because it was never invited, Dolak said. Instead, the company has representatives on similar boards; Sony executive Doug Smith is chairman of the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corp., a trade and lobbying group sponsored by battery manufacturers. Apple did not return calls about the meeting, which was run by committee chairman John Grosso, an executive at Dell. In August,Â Dell recalled 4.1 million notebook PC batteries, and Apple recalled 1.8 million notebook batteries.Â Sony made all the faulty batteries and blamed the problem on short circuits caused by a manufacturing flaw that left microscopic shards of metal floating in the lithium ion cell. Polycom, of Pleasanton, California, attended the meeting because it had recalled 27,700 of its wireless conference phones in February 2006. It is unclear whether Sony manufactured those batteries, too. Sony announced another defect in its batteries on Monday, when Toshiba Corp. offered to exchange 340,000 notebook batteries for fear they could suddenly lose power, shutting down the computer without saving users' work. Another hurdle for the nascent IPC standard is criticism from some experts that well-designed laptops shouldn't catch fire even if they do have faulty batteries. If PC vendors had used standard safety precautions in their notebooks, the defective batteries would have merely shut down, not overheated, said Donald Sadoway, a chemistry professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "The technology came out in the mid-90s; we know how to build a safe lithium ion battery," he said. Engineers typically avoid overheating in lithium ion batteries with safety features such as microcircuitry that monitors the charging process, an additive that makes the electrolyte less flammable or a porous polypropylene spacer that melts at high temperatures, automatically shutting down the battery's chemical reaction. Sadoway pointed out that it is PC manufacturers who typically specify requirements to battery suppliers. "So the question in my mind is 'Why are people not building batteries with these safety precautions?' Something is wrong here, and I believe it has to do with human behavior, not electrochemistry," Sadoway said. "In our attempts to bring portable power to the masses, we may have gotten too aggressive in our cost cutting. If you want something that's quickly recharged, delivers high bursts of power on demand, and is cheap cheap cheap, I would say that's over-specified." Sony agreed that variations in PC and battery design can make a difference in how they handle short circuits. After manufacturing, Sony's cells are configured into battery packs by either Sony itself or by third-party contractors such as Simplo Technology of Taiwan. Depending on the contractor, the batteries can use a variety of safety mechanisms, said Sony spokesman Rick Clancy. "Within battery packs, there are different specifications related to charging and voltage, and regulators that monitor temperature to indicate overheating and shut it down," Clancy said. "But we've pretty much agreed with our customers not to point fingers at each other, so I'm not going to get into that." PC designers also make decisions that can affect overheating, such as specifying batteries with a range of 6 to 9 cells, and placing them in various proximity to heat sources such as the processor and charger, he said. Another aspect of computer design that could aggravate faulty batteries is pulse charging, a method of recharging batteries very quickly when they're plugged into a wall outlet, said industry analyst Rob Enderle. Dell disputed that point, saying they are not aware of any connection between pulse charging and overheated batteries, although they do use the technology, according to Dell's chief technology officer, Kevin Kettler. Â
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Third company announces battery recall, but its recall program is much smaller than those for Dell and Apple.
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Computer giant Dell is to recall 4.4 million laptop power adapters because of a fear they could overheat, creating a risk of fire or electric shock.
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Dell on Friday voluntarily recalled 4.4 million AC adapters for its notebooks after receiving seven reports of the adapters overheating, posing a risk of fire or electrical shock for users.
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If you have an Inspiron, Latitude, or Precision notebook, then a recall is in effect for your power supply. &quot;Dell on Friday announced that it&#39;s recalling almost a million faulty power adapters sold with its
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Sony Corp.'s battery problems deepened on  Friday after Toshiba Corp. joined the list of PC makers  recalling its batteries including Dell Inc., Apple Computer  Inc. and Lenovo.
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Dell Inc. (DELL) is recalling about 2.9 million AC adapters nationwide- 4.4 million worldwide- used with notebook personal computers because they can overheat and cause a fire and electrical shock hazard, the company and the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Friday...
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Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd.  (6702.T) said on Wednesday it would recall 287,000 notebook PC  batteries made by Sony Corp. (6758.T).
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TOKYO - Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. plans to recall 340,000 notebook computer batteries, Dow Jones Newswires reported Tuesday. At least some of the batteries were manufactured by Sony Corp., the report said.  The move follows last month's battery recalls by Dell Inc.
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Dell Inc.'s recall of 4.1 million laptop computer batteries came as embarrassing news to Sony, which supplied the problem batteries, but proved to be good news for rival Japanese electronics companies Sanyo and Matsushita, pushing the struggling company's shares higher Wednesday.
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Washington, DC - If you own a Dell laptop, you might want to check out the type of AC adapter that it uses. That is because the company has decided to recall nearly a million AC adapters because of a potential fire and electrical shock hazard.
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Dell Inc. is recalling about 2.9 million AC adapters nationwide_ 4.4 million worldwide_ used with notebook personal computers because they can overheat and cause a fire and electrical shock hazard, the company and the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Friday.
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(Washington-AP) Oct. 12, 2004 - Dell is recalling nearly a million AC adapters used with notebook computers because they can overheat and cause a fire and electrical shock.
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(InfoWorld) - SonyÂ has appointed one of its presidents to oversee product quality and safety, the first time such a high-level member of staff has taken that position at the company. The new role for Makoto Kogure's, who was president of Sony's TV division, came as the company deals with the fallout of two recalls in recent weeks of laptop computer batteries that included Lithium Ion cells that it produced. The first, on Aug. 15, sawÂ Dell recallÂ up to 4.1 million laptop batteries because of a potential fire hazard. Then on Aug. 24Â Apple Computer said it was recallingÂ 1.8 million batteries for the same reason. Sony has estimated theÂ recalls will costÂ it between Â¥20 billion and Â¥30 billion ($171 million to $256 million). The battery problem isn't the sole reason for Kogure's appointment, the Tokyo company said. "Obviously the batteries are an issue but it's not intended that he will focus on batteries and batteries alone," said Gerald Cavanagh, a spokesman for Sony in Tokyo. "It's something we've been wanting to upgrade for sometime and batteries will be one of the responsibilities."
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By Altus, Celeste  ROUND ROCK, TX: Dell Computer said this week that it reached out directly to customers in last week's massive battery recall, the largest in the history of the consumer electronics industry, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
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Toshiba is recalling about 5,100 laptop batteries that could overheat and burn users.