Recalled: 35,000 volatile Sony batteries in Dell / HP / Toshiba laptops

Ruh roh. We're really, really hoping this isn't just the first of another long string of laptop battery recalls, but the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with a slew of other outfits, has just announced a voluntary recall of around 35,000 Sony laptop batteries. As you'd expect, the Li-ions in question "can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers," and there have already been 19 reports of overheating including 17 reports of flames / fire and two reports of consumers getting mildly burnt. For the full list (and it's pretty long) of affected laptop models from HP / HP Compaq, Toshiba and Dell, be sure to give the read link some serious attention. Oh, and stop using that battery pronto if yours is one of the afflicted.

[collegekid13 @ Oct 30th 2008 5:27PM]

2 hp lappys oh shit

[Blackstar @ Oct 30th 2008 5:41PM]

Imagine what it will be like when battery recalls happen to electric cars.

[Jon Doe. @ Oct 30th 2008 6:42PM]

the difference being that there won't be a recall because the batteries in cars aren't shit.

[Ignatius @ Oct 30th 2008 6:48PM]

Fact of the matter is, when electric car batteries are designed, they're designed with safety. This is why I'm glad that GM is going with LG Chem instead of one of Sony's battery makers. Ugh. You can trust Sony to make laptops blow up not once, but twice.

[nizzy1115 @ Oct 30th 2008 7:11PM]

Here i was worring about all these dell laptops...turns out after reading the link its only a couple of old crap models that no one would have bought anyways. If they did they deserve to have their crotches explode on fire.

[collegekid13 @ Oct 30th 2008 7:59PM]

ya as he said, they're all old things anyways. my new ones are safe

[kal326 @ Oct 30th 2008 10:29PM]

2 HP lappys both not affected, also luckily it appears my work Dell is also not going to attempt to kill me.

[Adam @ Oct 30th 2008 5:30PM]

Another Sony screw up lol.

Add this to the long list of reasons why Sony sucks ;)

[iEye @ Oct 30th 2008 5:36PM]

not as bad as when Kyocera recalled the "recalled replacement" batteries...

I

[sdavis747 @ Oct 30th 2008 6:03PM]

I totally agree with you on that. Sony really does suck.
Honestly, I am just waiting for the day for Sony to go out of business!

[computer.dude.28 @ Oct 30th 2008 7:10PM]

I have a Sony subwoofer! Is that gonna overheat too!?!? The PS3 will be next!!! ... No.
On a more serious note, wait till the PSPs start catching fire. Man, that would suck.

[Jake @ Oct 30th 2008 7:13PM]

Another bunch of Sony haters just shot their load I see.

Sad existance....

[EmoChicksAreHot.....Seriously @ Oct 30th 2008 9:06PM]

I'm one to favor Sony products,but honestly Sony?Again?

Do you have a problem with other competitors or just people in general?Setting them ablaze...Damn.
.......I think someone has been playing too much of Through the Fire and Flames in the battery R & D department.

[HyperHacker @ Oct 30th 2008 10:44PM]

With exploding batteries, trojan CDs, and Lik-sang, why do people still buy Sony products?

[aznofazns @ Oct 30th 2008 5:32PM]

looooooooooooooool

[Tony @ Oct 30th 2008 8:12PM]

Yay...I'm on the list. so excited! Yay for HP and Sony

/sarcasm

[ray @ Nov 15th 2008 2:53PM]

What is the bar code number to get a free battery from HP? Mine is hot, drawing to much current and only last four minutes when I unplug it. It starts with L1 .

[StalematE @ Oct 30th 2008 5:45PM]

does it drip acid on your balls like that guitar hero guitar that got recalled?

[phanbouy @ Oct 30th 2008 5:47PM]

why would you drop acid on your balls? that's unconventional

[phanbouy @ Oct 30th 2008 6:06PM]

(i've heard of tripping balls, but that's taking it a bit literally!)

[StalematE @ Oct 30th 2008 5:46PM]

oh and the wait to get your replacement battery is about a fortnight.

[Andrew @ Oct 31st 2008 2:28PM]

I see what you did there.

[Itchy @ Oct 30th 2008 5:48PM]

Why is it that these Sony battery recalls seem to affect laptop brands other than Sony's?

[Juxterium @ Oct 30th 2008 5:58PM]

Because there are very few laptop battery manufacturers, probably only 3 or 4 major ones, which is why when there's a major incident at a factory (like the fire that happened at one a while ago) battery prices go up very quickly because of the shortage.

All manufacturers source their batteries from a much smaller number of battery suppliers, and when you're manufacturing something that is so very easily potentially dangerous there are always bound to be problems in some batches.

It's just batch process manufacturing, if it happens in a coke factory you get a few thousand coke cans with 0.1% more water then they should have in them. Happens in a battery factory stuff goes boom, bang, flash, whatever catches your fancy.

[Aguiluz @ Oct 30th 2008 5:49PM]

One Dell and One Toshiba here in my house. Both clear. :)

[Boards of Canada @ Oct 30th 2008 7:48PM]

there is only 150 Dell laptops touched on the millions they sell.

[eddy @ Oct 30th 2008 9:14PM]

Shoot, my Inspiron 5100 is sitting in my office right now. But seeing as I had to replace the battery a couple of years ago, I have a feeling I'm safe (it's not within that Nov. '04 - Nov '05 threshold).

[Jhongerkong @ Oct 30th 2008 6:05PM]

what can you say? sony batteries are one hot commodity

[phanbouy @ Oct 30th 2008 6:15PM]

very punny ;p

[post_break @ Oct 30th 2008 6:16PM]

I just tried to call Toshiba. They have no idea what I'm talking about when I tell them this is not part of the old recall but a new recall that was issued today. What a joke. The guy from india was very rude and kept telling me to run a utility even though the serial numbers and part numbers matched that of the recall.

I wonder if I throw it hard enough it will make it to that call center and explode there. It does weigh 5 pounds by itself.

[Deed @ Oct 31st 2008 7:16PM]

Damn, I've never been happier to see "inspiron 1520" on my laptop.

[Chin-Poh @ Oct 30th 2008 6:31PM]

Damn it, first my PS3's Blu-Ray drive failed as with many many others, my Vaio TZ is under a recall and these Sony battery recalls? Sony, I am no longer your fanboy. You made a lot of fuckups to do this. : (

[thedesolate1 @ Oct 30th 2008 6:52PM]

History does indeed repeat itself. I am so disappointed. First in all their arrogance they fucked up the PS3 then Sony Ericsson phones went down the drain and now another batch of volatile batteries.

[Kspraydad @ Oct 30th 2008 7:27PM]

Except that these are 3 year old batteries that should have been recalled with the first batch...

[Steve @ Oct 30th 2008 7:01PM]

When I do it, I get this error "The number you entered is not a valid HP Notebook Battery Bar Code."

Called HP and told them about it, they told me it means don't worry about it and that they can't determine whether mine is effected or not. Talk about bad customer service...

[Alex @ Oct 30th 2008 7:05PM]

Damn. Mine isn't included in the recall. I wanted a new battery :(

[somekindarobit @ Oct 30th 2008 7:21PM]

I really hope my battery is one that is defective... you see it doesn't keep a charge from more than an hour when it's supposed to last me close to 5... so I need a new battery. hahaha.

[Kspraydad @ Oct 30th 2008 7:26PM]

Those are some real old ass batteries...seriously...you are still using a laptop battery from 2005?

[Boards of Canada @ Oct 30th 2008 7:49PM]

whats wrong with having a laptop buy in 2005? its like wine? it was a bad year?

[Xlar @ Oct 30th 2008 8:18PM]

I think that he is referring to not replacing an old battery, not that there is anything wrong with a laptop from 2005

[Kspraydad @ Oct 30th 2008 11:58PM]

My laptop batteries (cheap ass 3cell Dell (SONY?) specials) last a year and a half if I'm lucky...that is why I'm questioning why anyone would be using a laptop with 3 year old batteries in it.

[NobleArc, The Lazy Canadian @ Oct 30th 2008 7:35PM]

HP's website refuses to accept the barcode off of my HP battery from one of the laptops that had their batteries recalled--it even matches their criteria, by starting the barcode with "GC." They really need a guide on how to format the barcode entry, as the thing is littered with numbers, letters, and even a hyphen or two.

[Jason @ Oct 30th 2008 7:59PM]

I had the same problem, I ended up calling the 800 number in hopes of getting a new battery, but alas, no such luck.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Oct 30th 2008 7:43PM]

Dammit, why can't this affect the extended battery on my T60? It's already saying it has degraded capacity and I've only had it for 6 or 9 months. I'd like a free replacement. Oh well...

[KeegdnaB @ Oct 30th 2008 8:16PM]

Not the dv6000?
Are you sure?

REALLY?


Ok....then I guess my battery is just a peice of crap

[Chris @ Oct 30th 2008 8:17PM]

Where can I find the full list of batteries that are being recalled, I have an HDX - not sure if the battery needs replacing, if anybody could tell me how to find out, I'd greatly appreciate that.

Thanks

[Xoyuji @ Oct 30th 2008 8:37PM]

Ummm, why are sony laptops usually not affected ummm sony must be trying to destroy the image of HP , Dell & Toshibia

[Adam Zey @ Oct 30th 2008 8:58PM]

Oh how I wish my Inspiron E1705 had a Sony (and not a Sanyo) battery. Two years into a three-year warranty, the battery only holds a 65% charge compared to the design capacity, shortening battery live to just 100 minutes. And, of course, Dell won't replace it because they consider batteries to be "consumables".

Even more annoying is that the replacements are so damned expensive. I know I'm comparing different technologies, but buying retail NiMH AA batteries would get me the same energy as my laptop's 80WHr battery for $95 CAD or so, and that's AFTER retail markup for AA batteries. Dell wants $150 for mine.

Sure, the laptop is Li-Ion, but NiMH has a higher energy-per-volume than Li-Ion. An NiMH battery of the same capacity would just weigh 1.8x as much. But this is a 17" desktop replacement; if it meant half the cost for my battery, that'd be A-OK.

Of course, resellers have the Dell battery for 2/3 the cost, so it's really just Dell ripping us off.

[HyperHacker @ Oct 30th 2008 10:48PM]

Again? Go Sony.

[Peter @ Oct 30th 2008 10:50PM]

I think Sony should go back to the drawing boards for their batteries and figure out how to make one that doesn't explode, catch fire, etc. That or they could just steal battery plans from someone else.