Acer becomes latest to order battery recall
updated 02:10 pm EDT, Wed April 25, 2007
Acer orders battery recall
Despite extensive recall programs conducted last year, yet another company has fallen victim to faulty Sony laptop batteries, this time Acer. Cooperating with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the company is recalling approximately 27,000 lithium-ion batteries used in Aspire and TravelMate systems. A complete list of affected computers and batteries can be found here, where there are also instructions on how to receive a replacement unit.
Notably, the recall has not been instigated due to a new threat, but rather 16 earlier incidents with other manufacturers, most likely Apple and Dell. The cases cited by the CPSC involve severe heat problems, which were generally limited to causing property damage, but in two instances harmed laptop users with minor burns.
While recalls began with Apple and Dell, the programs expanded to include Lenovo, followed by Fujitsu and Toshiba, and later Sony itself. The result was a need to ship millions of replacement batteries, to the point that Sony's already precarious finances were seriously harmed by the endeavor.
