Dell recalls thousands of notebook batteries

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By Joris Evers

(IDG) -- Dell announced a large-scale recall of batteries used in its Inspiron notebook computers, which can overheat and may catch fire, the company said.

The direct seller will contact customers that bought its Inspiron 5000 and Inspiron 5000(e) notebooks with batteries manufactured by Panasonic, a company spokesman said.

The recall affects 284,000 batteries sold in notebooks from Jan. 7, 2000 through March 21 of this year. The batteries were also sold separately by Dell and its service providers during the same period, Dell said in a statement.

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Customers will be contacted in order for battery replacements to be sent out. Each customer will initially receive one replacement battery. A bonus battery will be shipped when the old battery is returned, Dell said.

So far Dell has had one customer report of a notebook battery overcharging, resulting in "minor property damage."

Dell advises owners of the affected Inspiron model notebooks to remove the battery from the unit and go to a special section of Dell's Web site to determine if the battery is part of the recall.

In October of last year Dell recalled 27,000 batteries manufactured by Sanyo Electric. These batteries were used in various Latitude models as well as the Inspiron 3700 and 3800 series notebooks.

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