arstechnica.com— After four major notebook manufacturers issued their own recalls of Sony batteries, Sony finally gives up the ghost and announces a global recall of all Sony-manufactured lithium-ion batteries.
Sep 28, 2006View in Crawl 4
VERY VERY old story.The best part - as soon as Dell found out and posted their special batt recall site, SONY publicly stated at that time, that they would not be fully reimbursing Dell, but they would help.Of course now, with SONY actualy announcing today on AP news, they would have to fully pay back ALL 4 OEMs any damages and costs due to recalls and new batteries.If they don't, no one will ever buy a battery assembly from them.It won;t matter much in the latter case, as Sony will just off-sell its battery assembly division to one thier parent company's other subsidiaries (Reverse Karetsu).
The last Sony thing I bought was the PS2, and after this recent debarcle, I think it'll be a VERY long time before I buy anything with the Sony name on it again. The PS3 excluded-- I wouldn't buy that thing no matter who was manufacturing it.Yes, I know the laptops aren't Sony, but they're getting a bit of a reputation now.
Apparently it's ALL laptop batteries, no exceptions. Lithium is on it's way out, thankfully. It's not a new problem. There has been several cases every year for quite some time now. The question is what the difference is between the batteries that you hand in, and the ones they give you in return. And if those are safe then why didn't they sell those in the first place. Considering the safety risks, money just isn't an answer that customers should accept. Who of the laptop brands doesn't use Sony? Any useful ones?!By the way, anybody remember the PowerBook 5300, or the "HindenBook" as Apple called it. That's Sony Lithium batteries.Hi-FD, SACD, MiniDisc, PlayStation and they have, like with PS3, been lagging there feet long enough to loose with Blue-Ray. Wow, that's a track-record. But I have to say that one of the reasons I'm so disappointed is that I like Sony from old, and they do have products now that I really want to like today.
Doesn't Sony also sell recharchable Li-Ion AA,AAA, etc batteries??? I wonder what's going on with all the other batteries? Oh and as far as Sony loosing money on batteries, ya they do make killer profits off their batteries, but when you think about all the trouble they are going to have to go thru to replace these batteries that as well is going to cost some $$$. It adds a lot of other costs in besides the cost of just manufacturing all these batteries a second time. I still am unhappy with Sony for the Rootkits and am still hoping to see Blu-ray fail, which I think it will fail as far as a movie format goes, but I do see a good chance of it surviving as a data backup/storage format for the PC. Unless holographic DVD becomes available to the consumer in the near future.
I hope the PS3 has as much fanfare in Japan as Sony and all the analysts say they do, because if it doesn't... Sony better stick with the TVs, for shareholders sake. This is definetly making me rethink buying anything Sony and I can't be the only one. Global Recall = Huge Costly Mistake, which hurts stock and reputation. November 17th, please save this company.Wii, take it easy on Sony because it isn't feeling too good right now.
battybattybattSep 29, 2006
VERY VERY old story.The best part - as soon as Dell found out and posted their special batt recall site, SONY publicly stated at that time, that they would not be fully reimbursing Dell, but they would help.Of course now, with SONY actualy announcing today on AP news, they would have to fully pay back ALL 4 OEMs any damages and costs due to recalls and new batteries.If they don't, no one will ever buy a battery assembly from them.It won;t matter much in the latter case, as Sony will just off-sell its battery assembly division to one thier parent company's other subsidiaries (Reverse Karetsu).
jus1haz2Sep 29, 2006
damn.... A recal on ALL Li-Ion Batteries made by sony. Thats alot of batteries!
pjbonovoxSep 29, 2006
The last Sony thing I bought was the PS2, and after this recent debarcle, I think it'll be a VERY long time before I buy anything with the Sony name on it again. The PS3 excluded-- I wouldn't buy that thing no matter who was manufacturing it.Yes, I know the laptops aren't Sony, but they're getting a bit of a reputation now.
netbeeSep 29, 2006
非常好
Closed AccountSep 29, 2006
Because, you know, Sony would never just pull a PR stunt......*Patiently waits for the announcement that the batteries include rootkits
huongduSep 29, 2006
Any info for us in the UK? This site has no mention of the recall:<a class="user" href="http://www.sony.co.uk/support">http://www.sony.co.uk/support</a>
rawisSep 29, 2006
Apparently it's ALL laptop batteries, no exceptions. Lithium is on it's way out, thankfully. It's not a new problem. There has been several cases every year for quite some time now. The question is what the difference is between the batteries that you hand in, and the ones they give you in return. And if those are safe then why didn't they sell those in the first place. Considering the safety risks, money just isn't an answer that customers should accept. Who of the laptop brands doesn't use Sony? Any useful ones?!By the way, anybody remember the PowerBook 5300, or the "HindenBook" as Apple called it. That's Sony Lithium batteries.Hi-FD, SACD, MiniDisc, PlayStation and they have, like with PS3, been lagging there feet long enough to loose with Blue-Ray. Wow, that's a track-record. But I have to say that one of the reasons I'm so disappointed is that I like Sony from old, and they do have products now that I really want to like today.
kuallaOct 1, 2006
Doesn't Sony also sell recharchable Li-Ion AA,AAA, etc batteries??? I wonder what's going on with all the other batteries? Oh and as far as Sony loosing money on batteries, ya they do make killer profits off their batteries, but when you think about all the trouble they are going to have to go thru to replace these batteries that as well is going to cost some $$$. It adds a lot of other costs in besides the cost of just manufacturing all these batteries a second time. I still am unhappy with Sony for the Rootkits and am still hoping to see Blu-ray fail, which I think it will fail as far as a movie format goes, but I do see a good chance of it surviving as a data backup/storage format for the PC. Unless holographic DVD becomes available to the consumer in the near future.
dreslimmulOct 27, 2006
I hope the PS3 has as much fanfare in Japan as Sony and all the analysts say they do, because if it doesn't... Sony better stick with the TVs, for shareholders sake. This is definetly making me rethink buying anything Sony and I can't be the only one. Global Recall = Huge Costly Mistake, which hurts stock and reputation. November 17th, please save this company.Wii, take it easy on Sony because it isn't feeling too good right now.
myitchydogFeb 25, 2009
Don't buy your batteries from eBay... that is where the recalled batteries find there way back in to the market cheap. Instead try here:<a class="user" href="http://www.replacementpower.com/">http://www.replacementpower.com/</a><a class="user" href="http://www.replacementpower.com/site/LPAC.html">http://www.replacementpower.com/site/LPAC.html</a><a class="user" href="http://www.replacementpower.com/site/LPBT.html">http://www.replacementpower.com/site/LPBT.html</a><a class="user" href="http://www.replacementpower.com/site/LPBTHC.html">http://www.replacementpower.com/site/LPBTHC.html</a>