Apple Recalls Batteries In G4 Laptops
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Apple Computer Inc. on Thursday recalled the batteries used in 15-inch PowerBook G4 computers, due to an internal short that can cause the batteries to overheat and pose a fire hazard to consumers.
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Apple, in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), announced Thursday a voluntary recall of 15&quot; Aluminum PowerBook batteries.
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Hewlett-Packard is making a high-stakes bet that it won't get burned by a bad battery. Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Toshiba and Fujitsu are recalling 7.7 million laptop batteries made by Sony. The batteries can, in rare instances, overheat and catch fire. HP uses Sony battery parts, too, but it is not recalling them. The company believes it is safe because it reviewed and rejected Sony battery parts for nearly a year before buying any, spokesman Mike Hockey says.
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Japanese electronics giant Toshiba is to recall 340,000 laptop computers worldwide due to defective batteries made by rival Sony, which is already facing woes over its batteries.
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Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp. (6758.T)  on Thursday said it will recall certain lithium-ion notebook  computer batteries following complaints of overheating by some  computer makers.
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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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- Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp. 6758.T   on Thursday said it will recall certain lithium-ion notebook   computer batteries following complaints of overheating by some   computer makers.
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(InfoWorld) - Hitachi Ltd. joins most of the leading notebook computer makers in recalling batteries from Sony Corp. that are known to overheat and potentially cause fires. The recall is one of the smaller ones, affecting 16,000 units only sold in Japan. The Hitachi Flora 210W and Flora Se210 laptops ship with the Sony batteries, Hitachi said. Hitachi doesn't use the batteries in any other products and hasn't received any complaints from users about problems with them. Hitachi's recall pales compared to Dell Inc.'s, which was the first and affected 4.1 million of the Sony batteries. Apple Computer Inc. recalled 1.8 million batteries and Toshiba Corp., Lenovo Group Ltd., IBM Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. have recalled hundreds of thousands each.Â Combined, the companies have recalled more than 7.9 million batteries. Hewlett-Packard Co. is one of the few remaining large computer makers not to issue a recall, claiming that an HP system configuration prevents overheating. Acer Inc. is considering issuing a recall but is still investigating the issue. Sony is hammering out a plan with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to launchÂ a global replacement programÂ for the batteries. Sony blames the problem, which affects some lithium ion batteries, on tiny metal particles that might come in contact with parts of the battery, possibly triggering a short circuit. Normally, the battery should power off when that happens, Sony said, but in some cases the short circuit could cause overheating and flames. Â
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Apple, in cooperation with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), announced Thursday a voluntary recall of 15&quot; Aluminum PowerBook batteries. The batteries being recalled could potentially overheat, though no injuries relating ...
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by STEVE HARTSOE  RALEIGH, N.C. - Lenovo Inc. recalled about 205,000 laptop computer batteries worldwide Thursday, warning that they could overheat and cause a fire.  The battery recall was the second for the company in the past six months and comes as Lenovo, the world's No.
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Chinese computer maker Lenovo and IBM announced the worldwide recall of more than 500,000 laptop batteries made by Sony after a ThinkPad notebook caught fire at Los Angeles airport.
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Apple Computer has been ordered by the Japanese government to investigate its products after reports that at least one of the company's laptops has caught fire as a result of defective batteries from its partner Sony.
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Apple Computer Inc.  will  recall 1.8 million lithium-ion notebook PC batteries after nine  overheated, the second major recall in the past 10 days  involving battery cells made by Sony Corp.
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The Mac maker says it will replace about 28,000 batteries in one model of PowerBook G4 and tells people to stop using the notebook.
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In the wake of two massive recalls of laptop batteries, Matsushita has announced it is recalling 6,000 batteries in its Panasonic laptops, as loose springs on the battery cover can enter the battery, which can result in overheating when dropped or mishandled.
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Apple Computer this week launched a voluntary worldwide 15-inch PowerBook G4 battery exchange program to deal with 28,000 potentially faulty units.
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Lenovo is recalling approximately 205,000 lithium-ion batteries used worldwide in ThinkPad laptops, however this time Sony isn't the culprit. The batteries in this recall were produced by Sanyo.