Battery melting / burning / exploding issues

Dell has been in the news for its massive recall of over four million laptop batteries. Most of these faulty batteries simply short-circuit, and won’t keep a charge; however, in some cases, the battery will actually catch on fire. This is a serious problem. To read more, and to see what machines are affected, visit Dell’s recall page:

https://www.dellbatteryprogram.com/

The batteries are manufactured in Japan and China by Sony. Sony also manufactures laptop batteries for Apple. Several people have written Small Dog Electronics to inquire if there is a fire risk for the batteries in their Apple laptops. There is no evidence that this is the case.

Apple does have a separate recall for certain Mac Book Pro batteries. These batteries are not reported to have the same melting / burning / exploding issue as the Dell batteries – the Apple batteries are simply unreliable. However, if you do have a recalled battery, it’s important you exchange it with Apple. Apple writes:

The affected batteries have model number A1175 and a 12-digit serial number that ends with U7SA, U7SB or U7SC. To view the model and serial numbers located on the bottom of the battery, you must remove the battery from the computer. The battery serial number is located above the barcode. Only batteries within the noted serial number ranges need to be exchanged.

Read about the exchange program here:

https://support.apple.com/macbookpro15/batteryexchange/

Apple has previously issued mandatory recalls on some of its PowerBook G4 and iBook G4 systems.

Traditional lithium ion batteries fail easily, and are recalled frequently, because of limitations in both materials and manufacturing. We’ll post more on that soon!