Fujitsu, Sharp recall 79,000 batteries

Well it appears that we haven't heard the last from Fujitsu concerning battery recalls. Today the company announced that it will take back 51,000 Sony-made batteries in addition to the 287,000 that it announced last week. As if that weren't enough, Sharp, who until now has been an innocent bystander to this whole affair, said that it too would be joining the party that Dell, Apple, Lenovo / IBM, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi and especially Sony wished had never even started. Reuters reports that Sharp will be recalling 28,000 of its laptop batteries, bringing today's sub-total to 79,000 and the grand total of recalled Sony batteries to over 7.7 million. We're pretty sure that Acer and HP are praying that they don't have to join in on the fun too.

[Sean @ Oct 13th 2006 7:18PM]

Intersting that Sony still has not initiated a recall. Maybe they gave all the bad batteries to the OEMs. Yeah, right.

[Jair Mendes @ Oct 13th 2006 7:29PM]

Wow.. one after another... Pretty soon we will have no batteries to power up any laptops.

[Oddmanout @ Oct 13th 2006 11:17PM]

Were laptop battery sales the invisible leg that has ben proping up Sony during the past few years as chinese and korean competition ate away at the companies profits and market share ? Doesn't anyone ELSE make laptop batteries ?

Geez...

Welp...at $100 a pop, there goes that restructuring loan they took out a couple months ago...

The PS3 has now become a lifeboat, and Blu-ray is the paddle...

[Thomas H @ Oct 13th 2006 10:06PM]

What models?

I have a Sharp so I need to know! :-O

[kaztm @ Oct 13th 2006 10:24PM]

Sean, Sony has replacement program for VAIO since two weeks ago.
http://vcl.vaio.sony.co.jp/iforu/hotnews/2006/09/003/
http://esupport.sony.com/battery

I don't know what you think of Sony, but they take QA incredibly seriously...to the point that it seems irrational to American eyes. When they recalled their alkaline AA batteries 6-8 years ago, they replaced not only the batteries but also the device in which they were being used, REGARDLESS of damage. I was using the specific battery in a nose hair trimmer, and I told them that there is nothing wrong with the trimmer, but Sony insisted that they offer a new replacement. Theoretically, you could claim that you were using the battery in a more expensive equipment that you no longer use and they would have sent you a brand-new one...and you could have eBayed it since it is shrink-wrapped new.

I feel that the almost-irrational but very respectable policy is still alive in Sony. They are offering to replace their batteries even after these companies have declared that their laptops are safe. Considering the fact that their stamina is at its lowest until PS3 starts selling, any other companies would have settled this with less damage, but Sony seems to be committed to pride in their quality assurance.

[Sean @ Oct 14th 2006 10:32AM]

kaztm,

I am aware of that page, but have you read it? It states that Sony is currently assessing the situation and have yet to determine which (if any) models are affected. So, essentially, Sony has yet to issue a recall. I signed up to be "notified" more than 3 weeks ago and have yet to find out if any of my sony laptops are affected.
So that is the basis of my earlier comment that they have not initiated a recall.

[Moogle @ Oct 13th 2006 10:26PM]

Got my hopes up. I've got a Fujitsu Lifebook P2120, which is not one of the models with recalled batteries. However I noticed a while back that the batteries were unreasonably warm and weren't holding anywhere near the charge they should have been. Since then it's been sitting on my desktop acting as an MP3 player and gamefaqs browser (so I don't have to tab out of games on the desktop). I'd like to replace the batteries so I can move it again, but I don't really need to anymore so it's not worthwhile to pay for new ones.

[Ben Hobbs @ Oct 14th 2006 3:18AM]

"Sony seems to be committed to pride in their quality assurance."

Huh, So why are all their batteries expploding, I think you are talking about customer service, QA is what is supposed to happen to the products as they are being manufactured, so they are quality assured. It isn't assured quality if the laptop batteries explode, is it?

[Philip @ Oct 14th 2006 7:34AM]

hp already have a battery recall..

http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml06/06007.html

not sure if it is cnnected (from last year) but they are part of the group ^)

[Just ditched Sony's stock. @ Oct 15th 2006 10:11PM]

"The PS3 has now become a lifeboat, and Blu-ray is the paddle..."

Up the creek without a paddle, or swimming with a paddle down a waterfall? Stringer needs to do something other than manage the entertainment divisions.

[kaztm @ Oct 17th 2006 11:36AM]

Sean,

I think that you read only the English page. If you go to the first link that I listed, it has a link to this page which lists the types of battery packs and in which laptop models they came installed in.
http://vcl.vaio.sony.co.jp/iforu/hotnews/2006/10/002/index.html

[Jair Mendes @ Oct 21st 2006 3:24PM]

Wow.. one after another... Pretty soon we will have no batteries to power up any laptops.

[Jair Mendes @ Nov 19th 2006 10:16PM]

Wow.. one after another... Pretty soon we will have no batteries to power up any laptops.