Dell Issues Laptop Battery Recall After Reports of Fires

According to numerous sources, including ABC News and The Houston Chronicle, Dell has once again decided to issue a recall for millions of potentially faulty laptop batteries sold inside Dell machines. This is not the first Dell lithium-ion battery recall and the way things look, it won’t be the last.

Apparently, the total number of laptop batteries included in the recall tops four million, or 18 percent of the company’s laptop production during the period from April 2004 until July 18, 2006. $300 million dollars (the total cost of the recall) is nothing to sneeze at, but we would imagine it’s a small price for the multinational behemoth to pay for peace of mind (and protection from further litigation).

All of the batteries were made by Sony. Dell, the largest manufacturer of computers, sells the Sony-manufactured, Dell-branded batteries to many other companies that sell computers. Sony has promised to “support” Dell financially in their recall efforts.

I’m sure everyone remembers the incident in Osaka, Japan that pretty much started the media machine’s scrutiny of the exploding battery situation. Maybe catching the explosion on camera was a blessing in disguise. It brought attention to the issue and may have averted a tragedy.

According to Mr. Dell, his company is, “fully investigating that incident and a few other reported incidents to understand exactly what is going on and taking appropriate steps to provide the best outcome for our customers.” The recall will affect over two million individual laptops that were sold by Dell. The only problem is, if they haven’t found a cause or solution for the exploding lithium batteries, how is replacing lithium-ion batteries with new lithium-ion batteries really going to solve the problem?

According to numerous sources, including ABC News and The Houston Chronicle, Dell has once again decided to issue a recall for millions of potentially faulty laptop batteries sold inside Dell machines. This is not the first Dell lithium-ion battery recall and the way things look, it won’t be the last.

Apparently, the total number of laptop batteries included in the recall tops four million, or 18 percent of the company’s laptop production during the period from April 2004 until July 18, 2006. $300 million dollars (the total cost of the recall) is nothing to sneeze at, but we would imagine it’s a small price for the multinational behemoth to pay for peace of mind (and protection from further litigation).

All of the batteries were made by Sony. Dell, the largest manufacturer of computers, sells the Sony-manufactured, Dell-branded batteries to many other companies that sell computers. Sony has promised to “support” Dell financially in their recall efforts.

I’m sure everyone remembers the incident in Osaka, Japan that pretty much started the media machine’s scrutiny of the exploding battery situation. Maybe catching the explosion on camera was a blessing in disguise. It brought attention to the issue and may have averted a tragedy.

According to Mr. Dell, his company is, “fully investigating that incident and a few other reported incidents to understand exactly what is going on and taking appropriate steps to provide the best outcome for our customers.” The recall will affect over two million individual laptops that were sold by Dell. The only problem is, if they haven’t found a cause or solution for the exploding lithium batteries, how is replacing lithium-ion batteries with new lithium-ion batteries really going to solve the problem?