Dell to recall computers with lithium ion batteries that burst into flames

[NNadir]

From the New York Times:

Dell is recalling 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they could erupt in flames, the company said yesterday. It will be the largest safety recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said.

Changing Batteries (August 15, 2006) Dell, the world’s largest PC maker, said the lithium-ion batteries were made by Sony and were installed in notebooks sold from April 2004 to July 18 of this year.

The recall raises broader questions about lithium-ion batteries, which are used in devices like cellphones, portable power tools, camcorders, digital cameras and MP3 players. The potential for such batteries to catch fire has been acknowledged for years, and has prompted more limited recalls in the past. But a number of recent fires involving notebook computers, some aboard planes, have brought renewed scrutiny...

...The portable battery industry has said there is not a broad problem with lithium-ion battery fires. But makers have known of the ability of lithium-ion batteries to catch fire since its first commercial use in 1991. In 1995, a Sony lithium-ion battery factory in Koriyama, Japan, was partly destroyed when a battery undergoing a quality test caught fire...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/15/technology/15battery.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5094&en=b76227d2e17dc21d&hp&ex=1155700800&partner=homepage

I guess those people buying a Tesla electric car shouldn't keep it in the garage.

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/354/C8960/

[niallmac]

1. Laptops are OK on planes right?

Just not mascara. I know they make me turn my lap top on at the
airport security check in. Is it that everyone knows a laptop bomb
could not possibly work as a computer also?
The ones with lithium Ion batteries that burst into flames work!