Nokia Will Replace 46 Million Batteries – Not A Recall Though August 17, 2007
Read more Gadgets , Mobile Devices , Mobile phones , Smartphones
When is a product recall not a product recall? The answer seems to lie with Nokia, which has offered to ‘voluntarily’ swap up to 46 million defective BL-5C mobile phone batteries.
It’s not a recall though since it’s leaving it up to customers whether or not they want to swap the dodgy battery or, run the risk [albeit small] that it will overheat and melt while charging. So far there have been around 100 reported cases of overheating.
There are around 300 million BL-5C batteries in use but only those made by Matsushita between Dec 05 and Jan 06 are on the black list. That would be 46 million then – small cheese to Nokia which has a billion handsets out there.
If you are worried about which one you have, go here and enter your battery’s 26-digit code. If it’s a hot one, Nokia will send out a free, less incendiary, replacement. -Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
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Comments
I own a Nokia 6600 with a BL-5C battery. It's a shame that my battery has only a 13-digit code and the Nokia check webpage forces to insert 26 characters: so, how can I check if my battery is at risk?
i have a nokia 2600, which is one of the phones affected. But i just checked on the website and it appears i am fine.
on the link to check if your battery is affected, just remove the /http:// from the end of the link in the address bar & it works fine
I worked in a phone shop for about 8 months and during that time I saw at least 20 cases of the BL-5C overheating in the Nokia 6280 and shattering the screen to form what looks like a leaf in the centre of the screen. Always the same pattern, always the same fault. I'm amazed that Nokia is saying it has only had 100 reported cases, as if I alone saw 20 cases, there must be thousands ocurring around the country.
The 6280 uses a BP-6M battery, NOT a BL-5C. Considering you worked in a phone shop thats a big mistake to make :P