Shivaranjan.com

After Apple and Dell recalled laptop batteries, now Panasonic is recalling the batteries for a different issue. The Panasonic laptop batteries are not manufactured by Sony Corp as in the case of Apple and Dell. The panasonic batteries have got a mechanical spring latch that could the puncture the batteries and cause overheating or short circuit if the laptops are handled roughly. It seems now laptops are the most dangerous electronics product on earth. I advise all the guys using laptops to stay careful.

Infoworld Report:
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (Panasonic) is recalling several thousand laptop computer battery packs because mechanical problems with the pack’s latch could lead to overheating of the battery. The recall applies to around 6,000 battery packs that were shipped with its CF-W4G Let’s Note W4 laptop computers in April and May of 2005, the company said Tuesday. The recall only applies to machines shipped in Japan.

The problems arise if the owner sometimes drops the machine or sets it down on a table very roughly, said Akira Kadota, a spokesman for the company in Tokyo. On such occasions the small spring in the latch can penetrate the battery pack and cause a short circuit that leads to overheating, he said. Panasonic has documented two cases to-date of this happening with the battery packs under recall.