After a couple of months of horrifying laptop stories about Dell laptops catching on fire, Dell has decided to recall 4.1 million batteries, making it the largest recall in Dell’s history. After making this announcement Dell shares fell nearly 2 percent, which just continues to add to their year unlucky mishaps.
The batteries Dell is recalling were all made with cell manufactured by Sony, a very respectable tech company. According to Dell, they issued the recall in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission because the lithium-ion batteries had the potential to overheat and in rare cases catch fire. These batteries were included in notebooks sold from April 2004 through last month.
Throughout the entire deal, Dell has received six reports of batteries overheating and causing damage. Below is a photo of a case where a dell laptop spontaneously caught fire sitting in an office building.
The first incident I heard about was an exploding Dell laptop at a Japanese conference. Here is a YouTube video that explains a little about the Dell laptops.
As manufacturers continue to make laptops smaller and smaller and pack more and more features into them, the ability to adequately cool them is increasingly a problem. Traditionally most of the heat generated by a computer was caused by the CPU. In recent years the performance per watt ratio of processors has decreased tremendously allowing slimmer and more quite laptops to be manufactured. Perhaps manufacturers are designing their laptops basing heat transfer primarily on the CPU where as they should be concerned with the hard drive and battery.
For first-hand information on the battery recall, here’s a link to the Dell blog and a copy of the Dell news release:
http://www.direct2dell.com/default.aspx
Dell Announces Battery Recall
Instructions On Company’s Web Site Tuesday at 1 A.M. Central Daylight Time
ROUND ROCK, Texas, Aug. 14, 2006—In cooperation with the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and other regulatory agencies worldwide, Dell is today announcing the voluntary recall of approximately 4.1 million Dell-branded lithium-ion batteries with cells manufactured by Sony. Under rare conditions, it is possible for these batteries to overheat, which could cause a risk of fire.
The recalled batteries were sold with the following Dell notebook computers: Dell Latitude™ D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810; Inspiron™ 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m, 6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400, E1705; and Dell Precision™ M20, M60, M70 and M90 mobile workstations; and XPS™, XPS Gen2, XPS M170 and XPS M1710. The batteries were also sold separately, including in response to service calls. “Dell†and one of the following are printed on the batteries: “Made in Japan†or “Made in China†or “Battery Cell Made in Japan Assembled in China.†The identification number for each battery appears on a white sticker. Customers should have this number available when they contact Dell to determine if their battery is part of the recall.
Dell sold or provided these batteries with the notebook computers, as part of a service replacement, and as individual units from April 1, 2004, through July 18, 2006. The computers with these batteries sold for between $500 and $2,850 (US) and individual batteries sold for between $60 and $180 (US).
Customers should contact Dell to determine if their notebook computer battery is part of this recall. Please visit the firm’s Web site at http://www.dellbatteryprogram.com beginning at 1 a.m. Central Daylight Time Aug. 15 or call toll-free at 1-866-342-0011, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time. Customers may continue to use the notebook computers safely by turning the system off, ejecting the battery, and using the AC adapter and power cord to power the system until the replacement battery is received. Customers can also write to: Dell Inc., Attn: Battery Recall, 9701 Metric Blvd., Austin, Texas 78758.
Dell does not expect this recall to have a material adverse effect on its results of operations, financial position or cash flows.
About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL - News) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell sells more systems globally than any computer company, placing it No. 25 on the Fortune 500. Company revenue for the past four quarters was $56.7 billion. For more information, visit http://www.dell.com. To get Dell news direct, visit http://www.dell.com/RSS.
Special Note
Statements in this press release that relate to future results and events (including statements about Dell’s anticipated financial results) are forward-looking statements based on Dell’s current expectations. Actual results in future periods could differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements because of a number of risks and uncertainties, including: general economic, business and industry conditions; the level and intensity of competition in the technology industry and the pricing pressures that have resulted; local economic and labor conditions, political instability, unexpected regulatory changes, trade protection measures, tax laws and fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; the ability to accurately predict product, customer and geographic sales mix; the ability to timely and effectively manage periodic product transitions; reliance on third-party suppliers for product components, including dependence on several single-source supplier relationships; the ability to effectively manage operating costs; the failure to attract and retain qualified personnel; the level of demand for the products and services Dell offers; the ability to manage inventory levels to minimize excess inventory, declining inventory values and obsolescence; and the effect of armed hostilities, terrorism, natural disasters and public health issues on the economy generally, on the level of demand for Dell’s products and services and on Dell’s ability to manage its supply and delivery logistics in such an environment. Additional discussion of these and other factors affecting Dell’s business and prospects is contained in Dell’s periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
About the above comment
I recieved the above comment last night and after validating that the IP was owned by Dell, I approved it. Dell’s PR group is apparently working overtime trying to keep customers and trying to replace 4 million defective batteries.
In the past I was quite impressed with Dell’s customer service. I had an dropped Axim get replaced with a refurbished one even though they didn’t have to. I also had my laptop monitor replaced and returned to me within 48 hours, far better than any service I’ve recieved from Apple or HP. That was all a couple of years ago and I haven’t associated with them since. It appears though, that Dell’s great support has continued and this is just another attempt for them to keep a good reputation.