Sony Joins Lap-bomb Party
Sony Joins Lap-bomb Party
by , 10:40 AM EDT, August 24th, 2006
A Kansas couple learned the hard way that it isn't just Dell laptops that can catch fire. Paul and Juli Kupperman lost their Sony Vaio laptop on Wednesday when it burst into flames not once, but twice, according to KMBC-TV 9.
In this case, the laptop was shut off but charging. Mrs. Kupperman said that flames "started to shoot out from all different directions," so she used a fire extinguisher to douse the flames. While she was on the phone telling her husband what happened, it burst into flames again.
 It takes two shots to extinguish a Sony battery. |
|---|
By the time the fire department arrived, Mrs. Kupperman had tossed the laptop out into the driveway where she shot it with the fire extinguisher for good measure.
Her advice? "I would say don't leave your laptop plugged in when you're not right there with them."
Earlier this month, Dell issued a recall for 4.1 million laptop batteries that Sony manufactured. In June, a Dell laptop burst into flames during a conference in Japan.
Observer Comments
It's not simply the source of the battery but the way the batteries are used...think cars...gas is pretty much the same but some cars are more prone to issues...think Pinto..charging current, environmental heat (where the pack is installed in the laptop) etc. all enter into this...you could have a battery used in a pack that in one manufacturers design perform fine and in anothers overheat and burn...same battery different condition of use.
Yes Apple does use Sony batteries in some of their laptop models. Now if this is why the iBooks were bursting into flames a few months ago...
Quotegeoduck wrote:
Disturbing in that the Consumer Product Safety Administration and Dell are saying that the Dell battery problems are isolated incidents. Hopefully it was just one defective battery, not an indication of a wider problem. Does Apple use Sony Batteries?
Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:30 pm Subject: A number of products
I have heard reports of rechargeable batteries catching fire in various products.
A few weeks ago here in San Diego an UPS driver was delivering an UPS when he heard a strange noise coming from the box. Concerned about a bomb he ran off, the battery in the UPS exploded. He was injured more from diving for cover than from the explosion, but it prompted me to examine my APC products.
Oh crap. Now Apple may bew issuing a recall
http://wcco.com/topstories/topstories_story_236131233.html
I don't see anything on the Apple site. Can anyone confirm this
Yup, Apple's issued a recall.
Not good for Sony, given that someone estimated the Dell battery recall was going to cost them around $100 per battery to replace, they now have 5.9 million batteries to pay for replacements for - that's a cool $590,000,000 - and other manufacturers are probably still to issue recalls.
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