Dell Recalls Dangerous Notebook Batteries

Afflicted by defective components in its notebook PCs for the second time this year, Dell Computer announced on Friday a voluntary recall of 27,000 batteries that the company says could short-circuit, heat up, and potentially catch on fire.

The short-circuiting problems can occur even when the batteries aren't in use, says Dell, which adds that it has received one report of a fire caused by the defect. The batteries are made by Sanyo Electric and are used in Latitude and Inspiron notebook PCs introduced by Dell in June, according to the recall announcement.

Although Dell is the only PC maker to recall the Sanyo-made batteries thus far, the problem potentially could affect systems made by other vendors. Dell spokesperson T. R. Reid says the Round Rock, Texas-based company "is not the only [manufacturer] to use these batteries."

Officials at Sanyo Electric couldn't be reached for comment on the recall. However, Dell says Sanyo has agreed to replace the defective batteries and give users an additional battery at no charge.

This is the second problem Dell has had with the Latitude and Inspiron notebook lines this year. In March, the company said it would replace flawed memory modules that could cause data to be lost or corrupted in up to 400,000 of the PCs that were sold during 1999. (See "Fixing Dell's Memory Lapse." )

Fire Hazard

A user whose notebook PC caught on fire brought the latest problem to Dell's attention at the beginning of September, Reid says. After running tests, he adds, the company determined that the potential fire hazard was caused by the battery. Reid says the user's computer was damaged but no injuries resulted from the fire.

Dell has worked with Sanyo and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to determine the proper course of action to take in response to the short-circuiting problem, Reid notes. "So far we've only had one report of a fire, but even one more [would be] too many," he says.

Dell plans to notify all users who bought the affected PCs about the potential problem. The company says models containing the potentially defective batteries were sold between June 22 and September 15 in North and South America and between June 22 and October 4, 2000, in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

The model numbers of the affected notebooks are Latitude CPiA, CPiR, CPtC, CPtS, CPtV, CPxH, and CPxJ, plus the Inspiron 3700 and 3800. Labels containing the model numbers can be found on the underside of the computers, Dell says.

Brooks Gray, an analyst at Technology Business Research in Hampton, New Hampshire, says the recall is "not a big deal" for Dell. "If anything, this should provide Dell customers with more confidence in the company because it's taking quick action on the recall," he says.

Gray also says the recall shouldn't hurt Dell financially because Sanyo will absorb the cost of replacing the defective batteries. In its announcement, Dell specified that only the batteries are being recalled, not the computers themselves.

Dell isn't the only PC maker to be hit by a recall because of faulty components this year. In May, IBM and the CPSC jointly announced a recall of about 220,000 AC adapters used with that company's ThinkPad notebooks and other mobile devices. (See "IBM Recalls AC Adapters.")