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 Laptop Battery Recall Information

By Bobby George

If you own a laptop computer, chances are you rely heavily on the computer’s lithium-ion battery for your everyday usage habits. These batteries, as compared to nickel-cadmium batteries and nickel metal hydride batteries, are unparalleled in their capacities to store energy, hold that energy when not in use, and resist some of the normal wear and tear that occurs in batteries of other chemistries over their normal life span. These batteries also resist the “memory effect” common in NiCD batteries which allows them to be charged and discharged in any fashion. There is no need to fully charge and discharge the battery every time it is used and there is usually no harm from leaving the battery on a charge even after it is fully charged.

If you rely on a lithium-ion battery to power your laptop, cell phone, camera, etc. you may have heard some horror stories about batteries exploding in people’s laps, pockets, or hands. While there is some risk of overheating and combustion when dealing with the materials in a lithium-ion battery, these batteries are equipped with safety mechanisms that all but eliminate the chances of an accident with one of these batteries. Furthermore, these explosions are usually caused by some other factor, such as being exposed to direct heat or sunlight for an extended period of time or other physical abuse. So the good news is, the chances of your battery exploding are very slim.

That being said, I’m sure many of you remember the battery recall of 2006. This was a massive nation-wide safety recall of lithium-ion laptop batteries used in Dell, Sony, Apple, Lenovo/IBM, Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi, Fujitsu and Sharp laptops. These batteries were contaminated with tiny particles of metal that were short-circuiting the cells inside the laptop batteries and causing them to combust and rupture, rapidly heating by hundreds of degrees in a matter of seconds. The recall affected nearly 10 million users and, although replacements were generally free, the hassle of having the batteries exchanged left many people with a bad taste in their mouth.

Luckily, batteries made by third party manufacturers, such as the ones we offer, were spared from this recall due to their build quality and safety inspections. Even though they are built to OEM specifications and perform “as good or better” than the original OEM batteries, being built in another location meant they were not part of the contamination that took place on such a widespread level. For this reason, some individuals affected by the recall chose to purchase a new aftermarket battery from a third party manufacturer in order to avoid any further problems.

If you believe you may have a battery that was under the recall of 2006, you should call your device manufacturer and have the battery model number checked. If you have purchased a battery from us, you have nothing to worry about and you can keep enjoying the quality power at an unbeatable price.