Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

IBM and Lenovo Recall Sony Batteries

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the things-that-go-boom dept.

digihome writes "IBM and Lenovo are recalling 168,500 ThinkPad notebook battery packs in the United States and another 357,000 worldwide, saying the Sony-made lithium-ion batteries can 'cause overheating, posing a fire hazard to consumers.'" The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has more details.

25 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. E-gad... by Penguinisto · · Score: 2, Funny
    Please, someone remind me to never, ever, ever buy a car battery from Sony. Ever.

    /P

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    1. Re:E-gad... by Rob86TA · · Score: 3, Funny
      May you win a thousand Darwin awards...

      I thought you could only win a Darwin award once. After that you are merely an example/warning to others

    2. Re:E-gad... by M1FCJ · · Score: 2, Funny

      With the advent of cloning I wonder if they will have to change the Darwin Awards criteria - basicly you have to remove yourself from the gene pool. Previously you could win a Darwin and live to tell the tale, now I wonder...

    3. Re:E-gad... by WilliamSChips · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Actually, if you don't die but merely lose the ability to reproduce you'll still win the Award.

      --
      Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
  2. This leaves only Acer and HP by arivanov · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Out of all big Sony battery customers this leaves only Acer and HP. Everybody else has recalled. Interesting - how long till they recall the remainders (they did partial "fire" recalls last year).

    --
    Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
    http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    1. Re:This leaves only Acer and HP by markana · · Score: 4, Funny

      Over at HP, Mark Hurd is reported to have said that he was sent the reports of batteries exploding, but he hadn't read them. Patricia Dunn is quoted as saying "I thought laptops burst into flames all the time. I still don't see anything wrong with it."

      Spokespersons at HP defended the batteries, saying that laptop batteries routinely exploded in use: "It's a standard industry practice".

      HP's stock rose on analysts predictions that sales of replacement laptops would surge following the wave of melted hardware. "They were going to have to buy all new laptops to run Vista anyway.", said one. "This way, the customers can stick it to their insurance companies."

  3. Saw that one coming... by piquadratCH · · Score: 3, Interesting

    ...after reading this little story.

    I have a battery from Sanyo, unfortunately, so no free, new battery for me :(

  4. Who's the bad guy now? by twifosp · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Everyone ripped on Dell when they first announced the recall. Sony's PR said this was a Dell issue, and not a Sony one. There were even some pretty hilarious jokes about Dell Laptops and [insert exploding situation here].

    So why were they so bad for recalling the batteries months before everyone else again?

    Or I guess a better, and more on-topic, question would be: Why is it taking everyone else so long to innitiate a recall?

    1. Re:Who's the bad guy now? by Penguinisto · · Score: 2, Informative
      "Why is it taking everyone else so long to innitiate a recall?"

      Because recalls are ugly, expensive, lawsuit-exposing, and gives mostly bad PR to whoever has to initiate one. You get some small props for being responsible, but it sort of falls short in the big fat benefits vs. risks calculator.

      /P

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    2. Re:Who's the bad guy now? by Slightly+Askew · · Score: 3, Funny
      Why is it taking everyone else so long to innitiate a recall?

      Narrator: A new battery by my company ships out in a new laptop. The battery heats up. The laptop burns with all the data trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of batteries in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.
      Business woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?
      Narrator: You wouldn't believe.
      Business woman on plane: Which battery company do you work for?
      Narrator: A major one.

      --
      Public use of any portable music system is a virtually guaranteed indicator of sociopathic tendencies. -- Zoso
    3. Re:Who's the bad guy now? by Deathlizard · · Score: 2, Informative

      Why is it taking everyone else so long to initiate a recall

      I don't know about anyone else, but I somewhat know Lenovo's side.

      Working for a Thinkpad University has a few benefits, one of them is talking to Lenovo Engineers directly at conferences, where we share our experiences with the Thinkpad with people inside the company. This results in better designs for our students. The R60 build quality I believe is an example of this, especially comparing it against the R51's we used in the past.

      Our last conference with Lenovo happened the week that Dell recalled the batteries. Me and the staff I work with, as well as staff from other various Thinkpad University participants was on hand, and Lenovo wasted no time talking about the Dell recall. In Fact it was the first thing on their list.

      Basically, their engineers said flat out that their was no reports of any IBM laptop exploding or catching on fire that was a result of a Lenovo battery failure (This was before the LAX incident BTW, which resulted in this recall) They did say, surprisingly however, that they DID have reports of battery explosions on IBM/Lenovo's in the past, but once they investigated the explosion, found out that it was a third party battery and NOT a Lenovo one.

      They Continued the talk by showing an opened battery that was used for their R60/T60 line. (One of the ones they are actually recalling) I was actually amazed at how much engineering goes into their battery designs. Just about everything about this battery is designed with safety in mind. In fact, they said they sacrifice battery storage for safety. All of their current-gen batteries have DSP's in them that monitor Voltage, capacity, heat, as well as overall health of the battery cells and will completely disable the battery if these values get out of spec. This alone makes the battery very hard to overcharge or short, which is one of the primary reasons for battery flame-out. Second, the case holding the batteries actually isolates and cushion the individual cell from each other, so if in the event of leakage or dropage, the chance of flame-out by a short would be even more minimized.

      They also had a third party battery on hand, and showed why those batteries flame-out. basically they built them as cheap as possible and they did not have the DSP to monitor the battery condition and would just basically emulate the chip. Because of this, the motherboard on the Thinkpad would think the battery is in perfect condition when in reality it's cells are overheating and basically lighting on fire. The other thing the third parties wouldn't do is isolate the individual cells and would wrap them up together in cellophane, which made them hotter running and more prone to explosion if a leak occurred.

      The LAX incident according to our Lenovo Rep, is the first and only confirmed case where a First Party Battery Flamed-Out in a Thinkpad, and is the direct reason the batteries were recalled. So Lenovo's not wasting time here, where Dell let a few dozen or so go in flames and swept it under the rug for a few months. One thing I can say for certain, however, is if these batteries can go up in flames, just about any other design with these Sony cells in them is a zippo lighter waiting to happen

      --
      In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
  5. From Lenovo.com by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 5, Informative

    Their announcement here.

    This involves systems sold between February 2005 and September 2006, including:

    ThinkPad R Series (R51e, R52, R60, R60e)
    ThinkPad T Series (T43, T43p, T60)
    ThinkPad X Series (X60, X60s)

    Yes, my one month old T60 too is on the list. Though I will wait out till the initial rush dies out.

    1. Re:From Lenovo.com by squiggleslash · · Score: 2, Informative

      Probably worth pointing out that not all batteries for those particular models were built by Sony. I have a recent T60, and the battery's a Sanyo.

      You can determine whether the product number of your battery without even turning it over (or, in my case, coming home from work to take a look) by typing:

      $ cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info

      at a GNU/Linux prompt.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:From Lenovo.com by ArtDent · · Score: 2, Informative

      Or, in Windows, use ThinkVantage ThinkPad Configuration. Power Management > Battery Information, and look on the Information tab.

      Yay, I've got a Sanyo!

  6. Re:Kudos to Dell are in order by twifosp · · Score: 2
    Kudos? Comprehensive? Admirably?

    Anonymous Cow^^^^^^^^^Professional Dell Blogger

  7. Not good for Sony by PineHall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When I think of Sony, I think of rootkits, exploding batteries and a delayed PS3. Sony has some significant problems. I don't think I want to buy anything connected with the name of Sony.

    1. Re:Not good for Sony by chris_7d0h · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Since Sony went "digital" (minidisc) I have mostly associated Sony with obscure audio formats (atrac), lossy transcoding and impossible to get my music off the portable player. With Blueray, the perception of a anti-consumer company is strengthened even more due to all the DRM crap for thri higher fidelty video format.

      Piled on top of that your three examples and it's stupendously clear the company has as much allure as does the British kitchen.

      --
      In a society that believes in nothing, fear becomes the only agenda ~ Bill Durodié
  8. Have Sony VAIO batteries been recalled yet? by manastungare · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If not, why not? Are they not prone to the same defect that other OEMs have been subjected to? Or is Sony just being complacent? Either way, it's not a good thing.

  9. Re:Threat to airline security by RevDobbs · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can see the movie quotes now:

    "Get these mother fucking Sonys off my mother fucking plane!"

  10. Energy Problems by The_Third_Man · · Score: 2

    I think this really points out just how big of a problem energy sources are.

    We are having major problems with fossil fuels and the impact the byproducts of getting energy that way. Batteries, which are very important to many forms of electric cars, are very difficult to scale up without being dangerous in a small percentage of cases.

    Whomever finds the silver bullet of energy will become the next richest group in the world (and incidently save the planet from boiling).

  11. Quick check (Linux) by toolz · · Score: 4, Informative
    To quickly check (under Linux) if you are subject to the battery recall:

    $ grep model /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info

    Then compare the output to this list:
    ASM P/N FRU P/N
    92P1072 92P1073
    92P1088 92P1089
    92P1142 92P1141
    92P1170 92P1169 or 93P5028
    92P1174 92P1173 or 93P5030
    The value returned is the ASM P/N (*not* the FRU!)
    --
    You aren't remembered for doing what is expected of you
  12. Actually... by d3m0nCr4t · · Score: 3, Funny

    I think Sony has succeeded to implement a DRM rootkit into their batteries... One illegal MP3 or movie and BANG !!!

  13. Check Your Battery from Linux by d3xt3r · · Score: 3, Informative
    If you're running Linux and want to check your battery model number without powering off.
    1. Open up a shell
    2. Type: cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info
    3. Look for the line labled model number:

    My output is listed below and does not appear to be affected ...

    cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/info
    present: yes
    design capacity: 84240 mWh
    last full capacity: 79610 mWh
    battery technology: rechargeable
    design voltage: 10800 mV
    design capacity warning: 3980 mWh
    design capacity low: 200 mWh
    capacity granularity 1: 1 mWh
    capacity granularity 2: 1 mWh
    model number: 92P1133
    battery type: LION
    OEM info: Panasonic

    The list of recalled models is here.

    1. Re:Check Your Battery from Linux by pingveno · · Score: 2, Informative

      For the Windows users, the Power Manager (double click the battery with the green bar in the corner) has a battery information tab that does basically the same thing.

      --
      "it's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed" - Galinda
  14. Attempt at joke by Lord+Prox · · Score: 2, Funny

    Old tech joke:
    Q. What does Microsoft call customers?
    A. Beta testers

    New tech joke...
    Q. What does Sony call customers?
    A. EOD. (for all you non-military types that Explosive Ordinance Disposal)



    Place a curse on Sony