With all the talk recently of exploding batteries and battery recalls, should you be worried?
Sony has recalled over 6 million batteries for fear that the might explode on their owners. The batteries were all manufactured between April of 2004 and October of 2005. Originally thought to be a problem with laptop batteries in only a few different types of laptops, the problem is now thought to extend to IBM, Dell, Apple, Panasonic, and Toshiba computers.
Sony is now rumored to have started a worldwide recall of the batteries in question from all of the manufacturers in question.
If you have a laptop by IBM, Dell, Apple, Panasonic, or Toshiba it can’t be a bad idea to check your battery to make sure yours is not one of those affected in the recall. Even if you have been using your laptop and its battery for years with no problems you may still be under the recall and should get your battery replaced.
What batteries are recalled and what you should do with your battery depends on who made your particular computer. Check your computer manufacturers website for information on what batteries used in their computers are affected and what you should do with your batteries. All companies will offer you a free replacement battery for your computer when you send or drop off your recalled battery. Finding out if your battery is recalled will require you to take your battery out of your computer and read the battery number off of it, then comparing that number with the battery numbers listed on your manufacturers website.
If your battery is one of the affected ones be sure to immediately stop using it and return it to the company. There is no way to predict when a battery may explode, even if you have had no problems with the battery before. In the case of these batteries it’s better to be safe than sorry.