Apple last month began voluntarily recalling some MacBook Pro batteries that it said were safe to use but didnit meet its "high standards for performance." On Wednesday, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) confirmed that there are no safety threats from the affected batteries, an issue that has been on usersi minds with the recent spate of laptop battery recalls.
CPSC spokesman Scott Wolfson told the news site CRN that he couldnit say what prompted Apple to issue the recall, but he did note: "We never allow a company to do an independent recall when there is a substantial potential hazard." He didnit know if Sony, which manufactured the laptop batteries now being recalled by Dell and Apple (for some of its G4 iBooks and PowerBooks), was involved in producing the MacBook Pro batteries.
"We are looking at Sony batteries outside the scope of the Dell recall," Mr. Wolfson said. CRN contacted some Apple resellers who said they had no reports of serious issues from MacBook Pro batteries. In comparison, Dell laptops have been involved in some high-profile incidents where they caught fire, and Apple acknowledged that its latest battery recall did stem from reports of dangerous problems. Both companies are asking consumers to immediately stop using affected batteries and send them in for replacements.