Sony recalls 340,000 batteries in second wave

Sorry to kick y'all laptop owners when you're down, but Sony announced that it's initiating another recall of 340,000 batteries, this time adding Gateway to the list of the affected, in addition to already-affected Fujitsu, Toshiba, and its own batteries. (It's not immediately apparent if this also includes the 300,000 batteries of their own that they recalled earlier this month.) There are a ton of models being recalled for each company, so we'd ask you visit the Consumer Product Safety Commission for full details; also, if you haven't already checked your battery, please note the following companies are now initiating recalls:

• Apple
  
• Dell
  
• Fujitsu
• Gateway
• Hitachi
• IBM / Lenovo
• Panasonic
• Sharp
• Sony
  
• Toshiba

Kind of scary, but at this rate it's probably just safest to assume that no matter what your notebook, your battery is or will be recalled -- so be wary, and keep an eye out for battery recall pages.

[Deluxe @ Oct 23rd 2006 10:47PM]

I'm surprised this garbage HP I'm using hasn't been (e?)affected. Compaq isn't listed either. I feel validated by others' misery.

[Tech^Cellfish @ Oct 24th 2006 7:50AM]

HP has been affected (about 1 year ago), they have recalled batteries from the N6?0c line, the NC6000 and others. But, the label does not read "Sony".

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

[Keaton @ Oct 23rd 2006 10:58PM]

NO!!! not gateway!!!

[Mr. H @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:02PM]

My Gateway M285 E checks out just fine. I was kind of looking forward to some cool fireworks, and having the warranty department here at college try and explain it.

[esk @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:12PM]

When they recall Dell batteries are they including Alienware in that? It's a question I have been meaning to ask for a while now.

[Justin @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:13PM]

It seems like this affects so many laptops. What percent of laptops manufactured yearly use Sony's batteries?

[JD @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:21PM]

Acer seems unaffected too :-)

[Farris @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:21PM]

Speaking of Compaq, does anyone know if they will end up recalling the batts from Compaqs? I have a relatively new (~4 months)Presario V4435NR, so I've become kinda worried with all these explosive batteries.

I would hate to lose my 400 dollars worth of college books, too :-(

[strider_mt2k @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:33PM]

Whew.

My modest B130 continues to fly under the radar.

[Sandeep @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:53PM]

All of the batteries in my school's newly instituted TabletPC program are being recalled...

this is the definition of hassle.

Thanks for at least letting us know before the school burned down, Engadget.

[Brian Clarke @ Oct 23rd 2006 11:59PM]

Sony, stop making batteries. ty.

[roman.kim @ Oct 24th 2006 12:03AM]

I've got an eMachines M5405 or something, is that affected? Anyone know? Because they've been owned by Gateway for a few year now.

[Patrick @ Oct 24th 2006 12:13AM]

I got my letter from apple.

[Don Wilson @ Oct 24th 2006 1:47AM]

This is why I love HP laptops. Great quality, very reasonable prices, great screens, and, oh yeah, the batteries don't burn down your house, either.

[Fabre @ Oct 24th 2006 3:16AM]

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

Name of Product: HP and Compaq Notebook Computer Battery Packs

Units: About 135,000 battery packs worldwide, including about 85,000 in the U.S.

Importer: Hewlett-Packard Company, of Palo Alto, Calif.

Hazard: An internal short can cause the battery cells to overheat and melt or char the plastic case, posing a burn and fire hazard.

Incidents/Injuries: HP has received 16 reports of batteries overheating, including four in the U.S.


Engadget just forgot to list HP/Compaq :p

[Chris @ Oct 24th 2006 11:20AM]

Fabre, if you look at the CPSC notice, you will see that this recall is over a year old. I don't think that this recall (though a similar malfunction) is directly related to the recalls that we are seeing right now. Plus, Engadget didn't get it wrong; the HP recalls were not announced today. 2005 was last year.

[Freexe @ Oct 24th 2006 6:37AM]

I wish my laptop battery would be recalled, it's only got about an hour of juice left in it these days.

[Wowzers @ Oct 24th 2006 7:02AM]

Good thing I have an ASUS Laptop. Looks like I'll be sticking to them fr the foreseeable future.

[Deluxe @ Oct 24th 2006 7:58AM]

I appreciate you digging that up for me, sadly my batter does not fall into the 'replacement' category. I was hoping for a valid excuse to buy a new one... I don't even wanna think about having to deal with getting a replacement battery in Japan.

[4x4van @ Oct 24th 2006 9:19AM]

I have not found ONE link on this site that works that relates to the Toshiba Laptops being recalled. You better look out guys Toshiba must be hacking your site.

[Herbert @ Oct 24th 2006 9:56AM]

Is it just me, or is the list of sony batteries of ACTUAL sony laptops nowhere to be found?? I have 2 vaio notebooks, and I'd like to know (also because both batteries are wearing down a bit too ;-) )

[Sean @ Oct 24th 2006 10:44AM]

FINALLY...
Sony has finally listed the affected VAIO laptops:
https://esupport.sony.com/perl/compatibility.pl?comp_project_id=7®ion_id=1
Looks like mostly thier T-series laptops..

[belz @ Oct 24th 2006 10:04AM]

@Wowzers

I dont think its official but Asus have had my laptop(on an unrelated issue) for the last month and the part that they've been waiting a month for is a replacement battery! Go figure!

As for Engadget, do you really believe there's anyone that even glanced at this site in the last 2 months that is still unaware of the Sony battery issue?(I apologize to all the blind readers with broken braille readers)

Yet every other day(or three times a day, depending on how much advertising you've sold lately) you run this story.

I come here for News(NEW Shit) but all I seem find is Old(Oh, Lazy Dip-shits)

[tiuk @ Oct 24th 2006 11:54AM]

Heh, anyone watch CSI: Miami last night? The episode featured a laptop that burst into flames (didn't get the model in time ;)).

[Doug @ Oct 24th 2006 1:55PM]

Toshiba link have an extra HTTP....

[e_man_88 @ Oct 24th 2006 4:14PM]

So, Sony basically had a monopoly on the Notebook battery business? Is there no other company that can manufacture laptop batteries?

And what about the HP notebooks? Is the above poster's recall due to Sony's batteries or some other internal flaws?

[Jeff @ Oct 25th 2006 10:26AM]

Just got my new 700m battery in the mail yesterday.

Yeah, I was lazy and waited awhile to order it. Oh well.