DELL Notebook batteries ( prod. by SONY)

[Willi000]

Hi,
today i read that DELL exchanges 4 Million Notebook rechargable batteries cause the could burn in some rare cases. These batteries were produced by SONY.

What you think , are now also our batteries of our VAIO Notebooks in danger ?

[Willi000]

Some VAIO notebook series utilized the batteries in question, but at present we have not received such incident reports related to these products. 

Yeah, because the ones where that happened are now dead and cant report anymore.....

No, thank you for your info and lets hope that our batteries are really different ones

[Kazzy]

Hi all,

Here is Sony's official statement on the Dell battery recall:

Some VAIO notebook series utilized the batteries in question, ...

So, which Vaio notebook series do we need to be concerned about ? and is it possible to check the serial number on the battery if it is an 'infected' one ?

Why has Sony not released clearer information about this?

[Twisted-Rizla]

I use a Dell at work and have one of the affected batteries.

Here's the Link to the Dell site which gives details of the batteries. Another one Here but I doubt if any of the codes match anything that Sony uses but there it is fyi.

[Andrewmc]

hmm.. now this is interesting, in sonys statement above they say that this issue relates to the charging cycle used in the laptop. According to all the news reports I have heard, BBC & CNN & ABC -
quoted ABC site

"The problem was within the manufacturing process of the cell itself. Sony apparently had a tool that crimped the metal casing; in the process, some shards were created in the metal that occasionally would fall into the cathode or anode," said Roger Kay, an analyst and principal at Endpoint Technologies, who had been briefed by Dell.

"In some of those cases the shards were sharp, and in some of those cases the shards were facing the isolator," Kay added. "And, in some cases, the user banged the notebook around, piercing the isolator, causing the cathode and anode to come into contact, causing a short circuit, and starting a fire."

doesn't sound like anything to do with the charging cycle of laptop to me!!! Most likely, since these are mass produced in the same region its likely they are both sourced from the same manufacturer! - ha - its only funny to think that sony were knocking the spurious manufacturers of their batteries all over their website! - A 279euro explosive short life battery ! fantastic!

These seemingly minor manufacturing and design flaws seem to plague sony products - type, sample and routine testing on the manufacturing processes Sony use don't seem to be going far enough! If they do decide to recall the item - which I doubt they will, it will be the fifth sony product I will have bought that has suffered from some trivial issue that has significantly shortened the life of the product!!

[kee-lo_]

I agree with this "why isn't there more information" school of thought, it's been a bit lax from Sony, and I can see the concern, but lets look at the positives - no Sony VAIO has been reported yet to have had that explosion - if I am wrong please post

BUT I do agree with you, they really do need to be more open and honest, none of us want that to happen to us or anyone, it's very dangerous and someone could have easily been hospitalised by this.

[vektor]

The story continues...

Now it is Apple who recalls:

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/08/24/apple.recall.reut/index.html

What about our VAIOs?

[kee-lo_]

Very good question, I hope somone will tell us what's going on, because I find it hard to believe that DeLL and Apple could make the EXACT same mistake.

[vektor]

Any updates?

Apple calls back. Dell calls back some more. And there was an explosion in a living room...

How save are VAIO notebooks really? Sony, is there anything new and official about that?

[kee-lo_]

Nothing more official. Very annoying to say the least!

As many have said from VL, there's no reports of VAIO fires.

[frannys]

What makes you think they realy care at all...just a thought.