Gateway recalls notebook batteries

Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 20 June 2007 04:11

Your IT - Home IT

Gateway has issued a voluntary recall for certain batteries for its 400VTX and 450ROG notebooks. The affected batteries were sold with the notebooks or as spares between May and August 2003.

Around 14,000 batteries are said to be involved, and given the amount of time that has elapsed since they were sold, it is possible that many have already been scrapped. Only batteries with part numbers 6500760 or 6500761 are covered by the recall.

Last October, Gateway recalled of 35,000 batteries containing Sony cells, and many millions of Sony-made batteries were recalled by other leading notebook vendors around the same time. This time, the affected cells were made by Samsung according to a PC World report, although Gateway did not identify the manufacturer in its formal statement.

Once again, the batteries may overheat, creating a fire hazard. There have been four reports of overheating, only one of which caused minor damage.

"Gateway will replace affected battery packs at no cost to the customer," the company said in a written statement. "In the meantime, customers may continue to use their notebook PCs by turning off the system, removing the battery pack, and powering the system via AC adapter and power cord."

Details of the recall may be found here.

In related news, a Toshiba notebook recently caught fire in the UK when its battery overheated. The battery had not been replaced even though it was the subject of a recall. Toshiba is renewing its efforts to reach customers that may still be using recalled batteries.