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Sony Announces Global Battery Recall

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the fewer-explosions-has-to-be-a-good-thing dept.

snafu109 writes "Since the laptop battery recalls initiated by Dell, Apple, IBM/Lenovo, Toshiba & Fujitsu, some may have wondered whether the entire lot should be recalled. Well, over at MarketWatch, a new article reports just that. 'Sony said Thursday it will initiate a global replacement program for certain battery packs that use its lithium-ion cells in notebook computers in order to address concerns related to recent over-heating incidents.' In related news, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has released some tips on how to lower the risk of your laptop batteries exploding, no matter who the manufacturer."

11 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. At least they are recyclable by RingDev · · Score: 2, Insightful

    but this is still going to be one hell of a bill.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
    1. Re:At least they are recyclable by Control+Group · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What percentage of earth orbiting satellites are powered by anything but PV?

      I hope you're not seriously implying that the relative performance and cost characteristics of PV in orbit, where the cost per kg of payload at launch is astronomical (har!), the environment they operate in varies in temperature by hundreds of degrees, available sunlight is completely unfiltered by atmosphere, and there is zero chance of replacing spent fuel (see point 1)somehow translates meaningfully to their performance characteristics on the surface in comparison to other energy sources.

      Because that would be ridiculous.

      --

      Reality has a conservative bias: it conserves mass, energy, momentum...
    2. Re:At least they are recyclable by Moofie · · Score: 2, Insightful

      That solvent for your resin isn't exactly Perrier, so you have to figure out something to do with that. Semiconductor fabrication isn't exactly made from angel farts, either. Depending on how you do the math, PV can be pretty costly.

      "What percentage of earth orbiting satellites are powered by anything but PV?"

      When you don't have to worry about an atmosphere, or mass production, and you can't really refuel the thing, your solution set changes. PV is a really good alternative for satellites. It's less ideal for, say, houses in Portland, OR.

      Your mileage certainly does vary.

      (Having said that, I think an RTG would be a fun thing to have in the basement...)

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
  2. OK, I'll say it by PrvtBurrito · · Score: 4, Insightful

    PS3 fiasco
    Rootkit
    Laptop batteries
    BluRay
    RIAA/MPAA support


    Sony is looking more and more like a company that is poorly led and one that maybe can't be trusted. These are all (so far) huge public relation disasters. I think they need to rethink their strategy, in the meantime, I will be politely avoiding their products.

    --
    Laboratree - Scientific collaboration based on OpenSocial.
  3. Re:quote by Chode2235 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Thats why they are all called notebooks now. You aren't supposed to put them on your lap, but keep your notes in them...

  4. The worst way for this to happen to Sony by ConfusedSelfHating · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not only do they have to do a full recall, but it gets dragged out through months of bad press. People will be calling their relatives asking if their laptops have Sony batteries in them. Do you think the laptop companies are going to blame anyone but Sony?

    Sony should have seen this coming and bit the bullet at that point. This has turned into a PR disaster. Most people don't understand the concept of a root kit, but they do understand "can't bring laptop on a plane, because it might bring the plane down" (Virgin Atlantic did ban several brands of laptops because of this issue) or "laptop bursts into flame, everybody blames Sony". It's a very simple concept and everybody can understand it. When technology doesn't work properly or worse becomes a hazard, people become angry and scared. And the last thing a company wants is to have its name associated with fear and pain.

  5. low incidence by Red+Flayer · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From the tips-to-prevent-fires link:
    There are tens of millions of portable computers in use. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is aware of at least 47 incidents involving smoke or fire associated with notebook computers, from January 2001 through August 2006.

    So, taking a low-ball figure of 20 million for total notebooks in use from 1/01 thorugh 8/06, that's still just over 2 incidents per million notebooks... I wonder how many incidents there would be per million notebook-use-hours.

    To contrast, the rail system in the US was very pround when, in 1993, they were able to reduce reportable safety incidents below 3.0 per million train miles.

    What I'm trying to say is that people are getting very worked up over a not-very-big deal (not that the goal shouldn't be 0 incidents per million hours) -- and considering the minor harm that such fires are likely to cause, is it worth the economic and financial impact of these recalls?
    --
    "Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
  6. Smoking bag in an airport! by raddan · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Jesus! The article mentions a guy whose laptop started smoking as he boarded a plane.
    The safety of Lenovo's batteries was called into question in mid-September after an IBM ThinkPad caught fire at the Los Angeles International Airport. A passenger who had charged his laptop at the airport boarded his plane and then realized his computer bag was smoking. He ran off the plane onto the jetway, and the overheated notebook computer began throwing off sparks, Lenovo said.
    Good thing there wasn't a trigger happy air marshall there! If only he had some water to put out the... oh, wait. If I were this guy I'd be thankful to be alive.
  7. Re:why by Amouth · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I have noticed that until now they never recalled them for their own laptops... i wonder who they get their battiers from

    --
    '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  8. Everyone blames Sony by griffon666 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It is interesting that everyone is blaming Sony and no one talks about Toshiba here. Back when Apple recalled batteries, quite a few people in this forum bitched about Apple. Now that Apple, Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba have recalled batteries, people do realize who's fault it is.

    If I had been Sony, I would have asked the manufacturers to recall batteries all at the same time. Instead, they are getting bad press four times in a row as all the reputable manufacturers recall their batteries. What a PR disaster!

    I write this on a 12" Powerbook G4 1.5GHz; Apple recalled my first battery a year ago (it was an LG battery) and replaced it with a faulty Sony. I am currently awaiting the second replacement battery for this faulty Sony.

  9. Re:Just a couple more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Betamax was an okay format that they actually licensed far and wide, despite the popular myth that they didn't

    JVC just had a format that was better and cheaper. It could store two solid hours on a tape, Beta couldn't, and that clinched it.

    The minidisc medium was a really damn nice one, and ATRAC would have been decent had not Sony killed it with various stupidities.

    Memory stick ... I don't know what they were thinking, CF was already quite entrenched by then.

    I like the form factor of UMD, but there's hardly anything else to like about it.