Friday October 31, 2008
Faulty notebook batteries being recalled
By STEVEN PATRICK
PETALING JAYA: Several Dell, Toshiba and Hewlett-Packard notebooks with Sony-made batteries are being recalled after 40 global incidents of overheating involving those models.
Sony Corporation, in a press statement, said it would support the voluntary worldwide recalls, expected to involve about 100,000 notebooks with 2.15Ah battery packs.
According to a statement on Sony’s website (www.sony-asia.com), the recall involves only notebook computers using its 2.15Ah lithium-ion cells.
It said some of the incidents involved smoke and/or flames but there were four cases involving small burns and 21 resulting in minor property damage, according to the Japanese manufacturer.
Sony said its Vaio notebook computers use different battery types so they are not part of the recall.
Hewlett-Packard has confirmed a free replacement programme for the specified battery pack at its centres. Malaysian customers should go to its website (www.hp.com/support/batteryreplacement) for more details. Or, they can call HP Service and Support at 1-800-88-4848.
The affected models include HP’s Compaq and Pavillion notebooks. A detailed list is available at the site.
Dell customers can check if they are having the affected models by surfing to www.dellbatteryprogram.com.
Dell said it will replace any affected batteries at no charge. The models that may be affected include its Latitude and Inspiron models.
Toshiba representatives could not be reached by press time.
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