“Japanese authorities reported Tuesday the first case in Japan of an Apple laptop catching fire and ordered the U.S. company to investigate the trouble involving the faulty Sony batteries and report back within a week,” Chisaki Watanabe reports for The Associated Press.
Watanabe reports, “A laptop made by Apple Computer Inc. overheated and caught fire in April, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. The user sustained minor burns after the computer caught fire, according to Apple spokeswoman Michiko Matsumoto, who confirmed the case.”
“Last week, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company told its customers to return 1.8 million batteries worldwide that could cause their laptops to overheat and catch fire – just 10 days after Dell Inc recalled 4.1 million faulty laptop batteries for the same reason. It was the largest recall involving electronics in the history of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,” Watanabe reports.
“In both cases, the problematic lithium-ion batteries were made by Sony Energy Devices Corp., a subsidiary of Sony Corp. based in Japan,” Watanabe reports. “Apple has received nine reports in the United States of the lithium-ion batteries battery packs overheating, including two consumers who received minor burns after handling overheated computers. Apple has also received reports of minor property damage, but no serious injuries have been reported.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Major error of omission. Nowhere in the full article, headlined “1st Apple Laptop Fire Reported in Japan,” (Are they hoping for more by denoting “1st?”) is the rather salient fact reported that Apple’s discontinued iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 models are the two Apple products affected by this battery recall. Those models – which used lithium-ion batteries – have since been replaced by the lithium-polymer battery-powered MacBook and MacBook Pro products respectively.
[UPDATE: 1:34pm EDT: It was an Apple iBook G4 as reported by EE TImes here. Apple replaced iBook G4 models with the MacBook in May.]
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 articles:
Dell Japan President blames Sony for recall of fire hazardous batteries – 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
HS:
To quote Jay
“The headline is evasive but it is also very awkward. I had to read it twice to understand what they were trying to say. MDN shouldn’t try so hard completely remove blame from Apple that they make complicated nonsensicle headlines. MDN’s headline purposely removes all blame from Apple when the truth is that a better battery connector may have prevented these problems.
I’d go with something like “Battery manufactured by Sony catches fire in Apple iBook laptop.”
Sounds like its probably Sony’s fault and its easy to understand. Most importatntly it isn’t an obvious contortion of words to fit a biased agenda.”
Nobody who seems to have an issue with the headline has explained what’s wrong with it:
Sony-made battery fire in discontinued Apple notebook computer reported in Japan
1. The fire was due to a battery, not a computer. ✔
2. The battery was made by Sony. ✔
3. It happened in Japan. ✔
4. The model of computer containing the battery has been discontinued. ✔
Still waiting for AP to trumpet 1st Sony Laptop Fire Reported in Kansas when they report on this: http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/9723929/detail.html
Why not just say…
Sony Computer Battery Fire Reported in Japan
Yet another Sony battery caught fire in Japan; this time, in an Apple iBook.
Why not just say: “Flame reported in Japan.” Yet another example of fire – no, not an Apple thing, fire was made by Nature, God perhaps. The fact that it happened to be in an Apple iBook (DISCONTINUED) is purely immaterial. Really, nothing to do with Apple. Not even Sony.
I wonder who made the Lithium… Blame Mongolia!
Sucker:
Indeed, you are right.
The fact that the iBook is no longer being produced is miniscule. Would MDN make the same point of telling us that the exploding Dell laptop was discontinued, or that the Dell laptop’s battery was Sony-made?
Give me a break. I don’t know when MacDailyNews became PatheticFanboysDaily.
“rather salient fact reported that Apple’s discontinued iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 models are the two Apple products affected by this battery recall.”
All those discontinued Dells must be OK too. How could it be a salient fact that only OLD MODEL Apple notebooks blow up not NEW MODEL Ones. How does that make it any better for the now flaming owner of that notebook?
“Battery manufactured by Sony catches fire in Apple iBook laptop.”
Open an Apple notebook, there’s not actually ANYTHING made by Apple in it, it’s all 3rd party parts put together by a contract manufacturer. I guess on MDN’s theory Apple can NEVER be responsible for any defects in it’s products. It’s either going to be the parts supplier’s fault or the contract manufacturer’s.
I wasn’t commenting on the AP headline, which was also bad. But MDN is delusional if they think that the people who read the crappy AP headlines and don’t follow up on the details of the story are going to come to MDN and get the real facts. MDN is writing to the mac users who already know something about this issue and will assume it’s Sony’s fault anyway cuz we all love Apple.
Fred,
Can you please prove that there is nothing within reason Dell or Apple could have done to prevent the fires?
Even if the issue is entirely Sony’s fault MDNs headline is bad. It is simply a bad headline because it is confusing and awkward.
D Nile:
Exactly. Its all of the individual components we can blame. Apple can hardly be blamed for combining the faulty components
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And hey, the computers were discontinued, so it doesn’t matter *smirk* We all know that installed base doesn’t count. LOL.
Here’s what’s wrong with the headline:
MDN wants to selectively pretend that the fact that this problem is associated with a (recently) discontinued model means it is of lesser importance, while causally ignoring the fact it often like to trumpet in other stories dealing with market share: That Macs have very long live and a lot of resale value.
This problem is very significant to Apple and to iBook owners. It shouldn’t be passed off as strictly an issue of Sony’s. After all, Apple is the one that put those batteries in it’s laptops. They maintain a certain level of culpability because of that. And it reflects poorly upon them.
Consumers don’t say “The Sony manufactured battery in my discontinued Apple iBook has been recalled” They say “My iBook’s battery is being recalled.” It’s a black eye for Apple no matter how much mouthpieces like MDN try and deflect blame.
Cpt. Obvious: Well put.
Casually*… probably other errors too.
Addendum:
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/10540/
Shouldn’t said headline be revised to reflect the fact that those were SONY batteries being recalled, and not Dell’s?
I heard from a guy at the range whose third cousin knows a pilot who flies between Tokyo and Seattle who stayed at hotel and over heard a converstation while checking out for a return flight to Washinhton that the Apple computer that exploded into flames was running a beta version of Vista.
“Apple is the one that put those batteries in it’s laptops. They maintain a certain level of culpability”
Product liability law says they remain 100% liable for any damages.
“Apple replaced iBook G4 models with the MacBook in May”
And presumably will be shipping brand new replacement MacBooks to all those G4 owners? Or if not, what’s MDN’s point.
D Nile:
Apple would be responsible for informing users of the hazards of faulty batteries and assist in recall of the batteries, but Apple is free of any responsibility for the design and manufacture of these batteries. However, if Apple was proven to cover up the hazards or risks of third-party batteries, Apple would be rightfully found guilty of negligence.
Anyone with working understanding of quality control knows that post marketing surveillance often reveals problems of design and manufacturing not measurable with typical statistical process control methods and procedures.
“Apple would be responsible for informing users of the hazards of faulty batteries and assist in recall of the batteries, but Apple is free of any responsibility for the design and manufacture of these batteries.”
Oh how wrong you are.
Product liability actions can be strict liability actions.
Negligence doesn’t have to come in to it. If you have negligence, that’s great as an alternative theory.
All you have to do is prove that the product is defective. That’s easy because Apple and Sony have admitted that it’s defective.
Anyone in the chain can be sued. The parts suppliers, the contract manufacturer, Apple, the wholesaler, the store which sold it.
All are 100% liable.
“Anyone with working understanding of quality control knows that post marketing surveillance often reveals problems of design and manufacturing not measurable with typical statistical process control methods and procedures.”
Which has no effect one way or other on liability. All you have to show is that the product is defective, not that anybody did anything wrong.
I bought a replacement battery for my Dell laptop about a month ago from http://www.laptopsforless.com]http://www.laptopsforless.com/laptopbattery/dell-battery“]www.laptopsforless.com[/url] and it works great. Is there any reason to think that a replacement Dell laptop battery would be less reliable than the manufacturers?
Old question[/B]
I wonder if this applies to the cheap Sony AA batteries found in the 99 cents stores.