Sony States Battery Problem Limited to Apple and Dell

Last week Dell issued a recall for 4.1 million batteries with Sony lithium ion cells and yesterday Apple recalled 1.8 million of the same batteries, 1.1 million in the U.S. market and an additional 700,000 sold outside of the U.S. with Apple PowerBook G4s and iBook G4s or alone. Dell laptops actually caught fire and burned in several documented events while Apple experience was, at worst, two hot batteries that caused minor injuries.

Sony originally stated that all of the potentially defective batteries were sold by Dell but it was widely reported that Apple was investigating the issue and ended up with a recall as well. Now, Sony is again claiming that only Dell and Apple batteries with Sony cells are potentially defective. We hope this is true and that all potentially defective batteries get reclaimed in the recalls.

It has also been reported that Qantas Airlines has prohibited the use of all Dell notebooks on its flights unless the battery is removed and the Dell is run on seat power that is limited to the Business and First Class sections of some aircraft. Given the seriousness of some of the Dell events, this may seem reasonable but the airline authorities could simply check the battery against the recall list for better customer service. We hope that this does not become a widespread hysteria affecting Apple notebooks as well. More and More... [Dana Baggett]