Dell Japan President blames Sony for recall of fire hazardous batteries

“Dell Japan Inc. President Jim Merritt blamed Sony Corp. for flaws in batteries that had to be recalled because they may pose a fire hazard while being used in the computer makers’ laptops,” Junko Hayashi reports for Bloomberg.

“‘The trouble was not because of Dell’s system design,’ the Yomiuri newspaper quoted Merritt as saying at press conference today in Tokyo. ‘The defect occurred in the production process of the batteries” made by Sony, he said,” Hayashi reports. “Fumiko Sasaki, spokeswoman at Kanagawa-based Dell Japan, confirmed that Merritt made the comments.”

Hayashi reports, “Dell, the world’s biggest maker of personal computers, earlier this month recalled 4.1 million notebook PC batteries made by Sony. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Aug. 24 said it found two incidents of overheating Sony batteries in Dell laptops that became fire hazards in October 2005 and in June this year. No injuries were reported.”

Hayashi reports, “Japan’s METI, which oversees safety regulations for electronics makers, today said an Apple Computer Inc. laptop [iBook G4] that used Sony batteries caught fire in April in Japan. Cupertino, California-based Apple on Aug. 24 said it discovered nine incidents of batteries overheating, with two causing minor burns. The company is recalling Sony batteries used in iBook and PowerBook computers sold between October 2003 and August 2006.”

Full article here.

Last Wednesday, KMBC-TV (Kansas City) reported, “Firefighters were called to a home in the 8900 block of Rene Wednesday morning after a laptop computer burst into flames. Paul Kupperman said his wife, Juli, was at home reading e-mail on a different computer when the Sony Vaio laptop computer caught fire. ‘Flames started to shoot out from all different directions,’ Juli Kupperman said… The Kuppermans’ laptop used a Sony lithium-ion battery.”

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: Sony has not issued a recall regarding Sony VAIO laptop batteries.

Apple products affected:
Computer model name – Battery model number – Battery serial numbers
12-inch iBook G4 – A1061 – ZZ338 – ZZ427, 3K429 – 3K611, 6C519 – 6C552 ending with S9WA, S9WC or S9WD
12-inch PowerBook G4 – A1079 – ZZ411 – ZZ427, 3K428 – 3K611
15-inch PowerBook G4 – 3K425 – 3K601, 6N530 – 6N551 ending with THTA, THTB, or THTC, 6N601 ending with THTC

More info: Battery Exchange Program iBook G4 and PowerBook G4

Related MacDailyNews articles:
Sony-made battery fire in discontinued Apple notebook computer reported in Japan – August 29, 2006
Apple to recall 1.8 million Sony-made iBook G4, PowerBook G4 batteries – August 24, 2006
Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and others working on battery standard – August 23, 2006
Qantas first airline to restrict in-flight Dell laptop use due to fire-prone batteries – August 23, 2006
Dell and Sony knew about battery problems nearly a year ago, waited for catastrophic failures – August 21, 2006
Dell issues largest safety recall in history: 4.1 million laptop batteries due to fire threat – August 14, 2006
Another Dell laptop goes up in flames – July 28, 2006
Dell laptop fires may have been downplayed – July 22, 2006
NY Times: Dell’s exploding laptop and other image problems – July 10, 2006
Dell laptop explodes into flames at Japanese conference – June 21, 2006