Nokia to Replace 43 Million Batteries

mysqlbytes writes "According to a recent post on the BBC's website, Nokia has admitted to a problem in the BL-5C batteries made by Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006. For some of us, it means longer battery life with a new lease of life and for some of us, no more burnt legs. You can check out the product advisory here."

Burnt Legs?

[pete-classic]

I understand that this is a legitimate recall. That said, if your phone is burning your legs while it's charging I'm pretty sure you're using it wrong.

-Peter

Re:Burnt Legs?

[SpottedKuh]

That said, if your phone is burning your legs while it's charging I'm pretty sure you're using it wrong.

Oh, crap. I always wondered why I couldn't walk more than three feet from the wall while I'm charging my phone.

Re:

[sacrilicious]

Oh, crap. I always wondered why I couldn't walk more than three feet from the wall while I'm charging my phone.

You think you have it bad? If the lid of a toilet I'm standing in front of accidentally slams down, I can't walk more *two* feet from it until I put the lid back up. Then there's the pain.

Re:

[nacturation]

Oh, crap. I always wondered why I couldn't walk more than three feet from the wall while I'm charging my phone.

You think you have it bad? If the lid of a toilet I'm standing in front of accidentally slams down, I can't walk more *two* feet from it until I put the lid back up. Then there's the pain.

Luxury. Why, in my day we didn't have seats or toilets. We used to have to lay it along the ground, six feet from where we were sitting, and hope nobody tripped over it while we went.

Re:

[krakelohm]

Try standing all the way up and not just on your knees resting your junk on the bowl.

Re:

[sacrilicious]

I was actually on a tall stepladder, changing a light while using the toilet at the same time.

Re:

[krakelohm]

And then you fell junk first and the lid came down? ;)

Re:

[tantaliz3]

Oh, crap. I always wondered why I couldn't walk more than three feet from the wall while I'm charging my phone.

Just make sure its on the outside of the leg, or you won't have any reason to find a girlfriend. Someday...

Forty. Three. Million.

[mosel-saar-ruwer]

That is one f'ing lotta batteries.

A thousand workers, each exchanging 100 batteries a day, in five day work weeks, for 86 consecutive weeks?

Ain't gonna happen.

PS: Can you say mother of all toxic waste dumps?

Re:Forty. Three. Million.

[timmarhy]

hardly. It's not your fault, but most people have a lot of trouble comprehending large numbers of things. I'd guess nokia will simply have all their dealers as collection sites, and have them send the boxes back to them where they will scan the bar code on the battery to mark it as returned and then ship the batteries off to a scrap metal recycler. 43 million would amount to a couple of road train loads.

i'd be suprised if there was significant labour invovled in the process.

Re:

[jombeewoof]

But you're assuming 8 hour days, that's only 12 or so batteries an hour.

I think it would be more like 1000 dealers doing at least 25 batteries an hour, for 11 hours a day 7 days a week.

I'm too lazy to do the math, but it's a less than 86 weeks. It still is an incredible amount of labor, but at $9 an hour at the very best it's not really all that much money, they'll hire an extra worker or 2 in each shop it's not all that much in the grand scheme of things.

*disclaimer.
all numbers pulled out of nowhere, and p

Re:Substitute "Dealerships" for "Workers".

[nacturation]

A thousand dealerships, each exchanging 100 batteries a day, in five day work weeks, for 86 consecutive weeks?

I don't know where you live, but in my city alone there's easily more than 1000 retail stores you could go to buy a Nokia phone. And let's say there's 1000 such cities around the world. 86 weeks is 14,448 hours. With 1000 dealers in 1000 cities they could have this entire thing done in 14.5 hours or one to two working days. Or half an hour a day for a month.
 

Re:

[Serengeti]

And thats assuming that all Nokia owners respond to the recall.

Re:

[Hognoxious]

I'd guess nokia will simply have all their dealers as collection sites

Thanks for pointing that out, it's completely different. So the dealers are entirely staffed by robots - who'd have though it?

Re:

[GuldKalle]

But Nokia still gotta cough up with 43M new batteries. And they can't use whatever spares they have lying around, as they're likely to be affected, too. that has to take up some labour (and time)

Re:

[tantaliz3]

So not only are they being a fair and responsible company...but their creating jobs too!

Re:

[RuBLed]

I bet it was on vibrate mode while charging to cause a burning sensation on a part of the lower body.

Re:Burnt Legs?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wonder seriously about this. I put in the code from the back of my battery and the site cheerfully informed me, "Your battery may be replaced". Great, I thought. I'll just pop in my contact info and they'll mail me a new one. Great, right??

Uhm...next page says, "Your battery will NOT be replaced". Think they coulda told me that BEFORE I put in my contact (marketing) info?

I smell a scam here. Or at least, scummy tactics.

This site discussed on TheDailyWTF

[willpall]

Link to forum thread [worsethanfailure.com]

Re:

[heinousjay]

Sorta like Democrats, Socialists, Communists, and Soviets, right?

If you do have a BL-5C

[88Seconds]

Go to the following URL http://www.nokia.com/batteryreplacement/en/ [nokia.com] to check if you are affected

Re:

[thatskinnyguy]

Damn it! My phone is on that list! Guess me and Ma Bell are going to have to get acquainted again... damn it.

Re:

[Threni]

> Damn it! My phone is on that list!

But is your battery on that list?

Re:

[thatskinnyguy]

Sure is. The sticker on the back of it looks like the one in the picture.

Re:

[Threni]

> The sticker on the back of it looks like the one in the picture.

But does the serial number on your battery look like it might be one of the bad ones?

Re:

[88Seconds]

Yeah - my bad. I was reading through the comments and didn't notice the original link in the summary. I thought I was being helpful, but I was beaten to it. Rather than modding my original post as insightful mod it as redundant. Meanwhile I'll get me coat.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Dam it!

[farmerj]

Go a replacement battery from Apple with the Sony recall a few months ago, just as my powerbook battery was on it's last legs.

Thought I was going to get lucky again as my year and a half old 6230i's battery is heading downhill at the moment.

Was fairly sure it was unlikely when I opened up the phone and the battery said made in Hungary and sure enough it's not one of the affected ones.

Oh well, maybe next time :-)

Admitting?

[glitch23]

"Admitting" seems a bit strong. There is no evidence yet of them denying the matter. It just takes time for reports to come in and see that there is a pattern forming and *realize* all those issues may not be coincidence. "Admitting" to there being an issue implies they were trying to cover up something. At least that's the way I view it. I don't see any wrongdoing, yet.

Re:

[bladesjester]

"Admitting" seems a bit strong. There is no evidence yet of them denying the matter.

Not really. All that saying they admit there is a problem means is that they came out and said "guys, we have a problem with the following batteries". It has absolutely nothing to do with a possible cover up.

Re:

[malsdavis]

Particularly as the problem isn't that major anyway. When other companies are only now recalling children's toys that for months were known to be coated with lead paint, I think Nokia must be commended for offering to replace batteries quickly for such a lesser problem.

Companies should be heavily criticized for being bad, but also praised for being good.

WTF Javascript

[nytrokiss]

Yes they have this massive WTF on there website script! http://forums.worsethanfailure.com/forums/thread/1 27881.aspx [worsethanfailure.com]

Legs?

[KeepQuiet]

Ears maybe... Butt maybe... but legs? huh?

Cool!

[pair-a-noyd]

I just bought a new Nokia a new months ago and it has this battery in it.
Never had any trouble with it but if I get a new one, I'm ok with that.

Re:

[Matt_R]

I have a BL-5C unaffected by the recall in my N70. It goes flat very quickly when I turn 3G on. If I leave it in GSM-only mode, the battery lasts a lot longer.

apple doesnt seem so stupid now

[hosecoat]

they wont ever have to replace any batteries. ;)

Oh no!

[evilviper]

Oh no, no... You've got it all wrong. I've seen countless PR people on TV and they all say the same thing... It's only cheap, off-brand batteries that explode, NEVER the manufacturer's own batteries.

The news media, of course, never argues the point.

Re:26-CHARACTER PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION NUMBER

[phozz bare]

You don't need to call anyone. If you had actually read the advisory you may have noticed that "if the battery identification number does not contain 26 characters, it is not subject to this product advisory".

46 Million, Not 43

[yohanes]

How do they get the number 43?

Re:

[Sloppy]

It's one of those 10^6 vs 2^20 things, like with hard disk capacities. You can call it either 46 million batteries or 43 MegaBatteroids, depending on whether you're trying to make it sound big or small.

Have 2 of them

[koinu]

None is affected.

I wonder how Nokia comes to the conclusion that "46 millions batteries" is "very rare" (quoted from the advisory).

Re:

[lasse_dk]

with 43 million batteries sold and 100 reported problems very rare seems accurate...

Risky business

[Taagehornet]

I bet Nokia's rather happy they didn't solder the battery onto the board, but opted for the replaceable solution.

Considering that every month brings with it a new story of a major hardware manufacturer having to recall xx million devices due to faulty batteries, I'm impressed that Apple had the guts to go for non-replaceables.

Re:

[Zebedeu]

Yeah, but Apple would never have this kind of problem because they get their batteries from reputable suppliers, like Sony.

Safety Regulation?

[Prodigy Savant]

As batteries pack in increasing amounts of power in smaller and smaller enclosures, their explosive power also increases.
At some point, with the "right" power density, just shorting a battery may be enough to cause a powerful explosion.
IANAL, but I think the time is ripe for the law to recommend safety guidelines for batteries. At a minimum, maybe all batteries should come with an inbuilt fuse.

Re:

[Detritus]

An internal fuse will not help if there is an internal short in a lithium battery. This can be caused by a manufacturing defect or physical abuse.

Misreporting, AGAIN!

[wandm]

Not all 43 million batteries need replacing, dimwits! Only a small batch manufactured by Matsushita. You need your battery's serial number to check whether it belongs to that particular batch, mine didn't. If it doesn't, _IT WILL NOT BE REPLACED_.

For those who don't know

[postermmxvicom]

Matsushita = Panasonic

That's the battery used in the Nokia 1100...

[Lisandro]

...and other low end models - some of Nokia's best selling phones. I wonder how many of the end users will even bother to send their batteries back, but still, that's gotta hurt.