Apple recalls fire-fear batteries
Brendan Montague, Daily Mail25 August 2006
APPLE recalled almost two million laptop computer batteries last night, warning they could be a fire hazard.
The move leaves thousands of owners in the UK able to use their machines only on a mains power supply. The recall of 1.8m batteries comes after at least nine overheated - leaving two users with burns and causing some 'damage to property'.
Earlier this month Dell withdrew more than four million laptop batteries - from the same supplier, Sony - after at least six burst into flames. The move, ordered by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, was the biggest-ever electronics recall.
The new Apple alert covers lithium ion batteries in the 12-inch iBook G4, 12- inch PowerBook G4 and 15- inch PowerBook G4 laptops sold after October 2003.
Apple estimates this involves 1.1m machines in the US and another 700,000 worldwide. Tens of thousands will have been sold in the UK, which is one of the California-based company's biggest markets.
People in Britain who bought a laptop abroad may also be affected. Anyone who owns one of the three listed products should check the serial number on their battery against the recall list on the Apple website - www. apple.com/support.
The list of batteries which are affected can also be found at www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PREREL/ prhtml06/06245.html.
If your battery is one of those affected, you should remove it and run the laptop on mains supply. You then need to contact Apple, who will supply a replacement battery free of charge.
The company last night released a statement which said: 'We discovered that some Sony batteries in previous models of PowerPC based iBooks and PowerBooks do not meet Apple's standards for safety and performance'
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