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Toshiba Recalls More Than 100,000 Faulty Laptop Batteries (cpsc.gov)

Posted by msmash on from the faulty-hardware dept.

An anonymous reader writes: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has issued a recall for over 100,000 Toshiba laptop battery packs after several serious reports. Toshiba, which says it shipped the affected battery module in 39 models of Toshiba Protege, Satellite, Tecra between mid-2011 and early 2016, urges users to check the model number of the battery on their laptop. Defective battery packs have part numbers beginning with G71C (G71C*******). The company has also issued battery replacement instructions for the recall, as well as made available a tool which will help you determine if your battery is part of the recall.

14 comments

  1. Toshiba P-what again? by war4peace · · Score: 0

    I guess somehow "Toshiba Portege" became "Toshiba Protege" in TFS.

    --
    ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  2. Ssss...boom...AHHHHH!! by evolutionary · · Score: 1

    Nothing like a potentially exploding battery to add "life" to a LAN party. (okay, you'd bring semi-portable desktops, but still). How many companies are going to keep releasing bad batteries before we learn? I'm curious who they selected to manufacturer their batteries this round...

    --
    "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
    1. Re:Ssss...boom...AHHHHH!! by Megol · · Score: 1

      Nobody plans for making bad batteries but things do go wrong sometimes. Recalls are for being on the safe side, most or all of the batteries recalled will have no problem. There isn't something to learn from this unless you want weaker batteries that are more expensive - and if so they are already available.

    2. Re:Ssss...boom...AHHHHH!! by evolutionary · · Score: 1

      Have you seen this: http://ca.complex.com/pop-cult... Sony had a bad rep for batteries a few years ago. You can only manufacture so many batteries before it becomes clear someone is cutting corners. You could say nobody "plans" for batteries to be bad, but seriously, when you have a bad track record like Sony did (and I'm not saying Toshiba is necessarily the same but...), you can only say "I didn't know" so many times before it becomes clear one is gambling with the customer's safety. It's easy to play games with other people's lives for profit when you at a distance. We have enough experience in ion-lithium battery manufacturing and management by now to minimize these numbers and it's been quiet for awhile. I could be wrong, but when I see spikes, it usually means someone changed something, usually for the worse.

      --
      "Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
    3. Re:Ssss...boom...AHHHHH!! by antdude · · Score: 1

      People still do LAN parties? :P

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  3. US only? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where's my free battery

  4. Right on! by mr_java66 · · Score: 0

    Right on guys! Thanks so much for a 'tool' to HELP determine if my battery is part of the recall.

  5. aftermarket tracking by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If there was a way to get a tracker in every toshiba laptop....this was it.

    1. Re:aftermarket tracking by rhodium_mir · · Score: 1

      So much easier than just loading it at the factory...

      --
      You can't spell "oneiromancy" without "roman".
  6. not my fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I dropped my laptop and the battery stopped charging, I am glad Toshiba finally takes responsibility for their mistakes and I get a new battery.

  7. Toshiba makes crap these days by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone following Toshiba knows they want to sell off its PC notebook line to someone. Been shopping it around but apparently no takers. I had a couple Toshiba notebooks few years back and it was OK. Plenty of bloatware as many were and so I decided to try another late last year. I was sure disappointed in the quality compared to other brands in the same price range. Everything about it felt cheap, chassis was flexing way to much I felt returning it was the best thing. I didn't know at the time how right I was about Toshiba. But in all honesty any laptop maker can get a terrible batch of batteries from these China companies who seem rather poor in quality control. Even Apple and Sony have had battery issues, and to some extent probably every PC maker. I've seen a PC battery combust and let me say it produces a lot of heat fast. I know am very careful about battery condition and where I set my laptop.

  8. Classic April Fools pranksters... by The_Revelation · · Score: 1

    All fun and games until my notebook loses power in the middle of the work day because I read some stupid /. post tells me to get my computer off the dock look at its battery's part number.