Nokia Recalls 46 Million Phone Batteries

Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:50AM EDT

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Watch your ears, people. Nokia has just issued a warning that the batteries in some—well, make that a lot—of its phones are prone to overheating. About 46 million batteries are suspect, according to the Finnish cell-phone maker.

According to Nokia, its BL-5C batteries, which power about 50 different models of Nokia phones (including the popular N72, N91, and E50 handsets), may overheat while being charged. The phone manufacturer says about 100 cases of battery overheating have been reported worldwide, although none occurred while someone was actually using their phone. Nokia is offering to replace any BL-5C batteries free of charge. While Nokia claims that no injuries have been reported due to overheating batteries, I can only imagine how hot the buggy batteries are getting; my pair of non-Nokia cell phones, which are supposedly A-OK, already get pretty warm while they're charging in their cradles.

So, how can you tell if you've got a bum battery? First, check this page and see if your make of Nokia phone is listed. If it is, then crack open the back cover, find the battery ID number (instructions for finding it are on the same page) and search for it on Nokia's site; a message will pop up if you need to send the battery in for replacement.

Related:
46M cell phone batteries may be faulty [Yahoo! News]

Comments on Nokia Recalls 46 Million Phone Batteries

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  • 1 Posted by midwaytrucking on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:19PM EDT Report Abuse

    100 COMPLAINTS AND HOW MANY NOKES ARE OUT THERE. IF THE PHONE FEELS HOT, TURN IT OFF AND READ SOMETHING OR TAKE A WALK OUT SIDE, TALK FACE TO FACE WITH YOUR SPOUSE, OR HOW ABOUT WRITE A LETTER TO SOMEONE, PLAY WITH YOUR KIDS] GET THE POINT

  • 2 Posted by boyz_rockworld on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:12PM EDT Report Abuse

    I agree with the person below me =] by any chance is the nokia 6102i part og this...does it use this battery??? e-mail me if anyone knows =]

  • 3 Posted by dasein.tessa on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:37PM EDT Report Abuse

    the first incident of this type of battery exploding (literally) was in the philippines. news excerpt: "Lilybeth Legasto said her cell phone went up in flames while she was charging it at home. She said the unit burst while it was on her bed. No one was hurt in the minor blast." the unit and its battery were sent to finland for further study. this is not a joke. check it out: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=88443

  • 4 Posted by celtfalcon on Thu Aug 16, 2007 10:05AM EDT Report Abuse

    If people would actually read the press release instead of just the headline, people would have a better understanding of this issue. First off, it is not all of Nokia's batteries, it is only those manufactured by a Japanese company between December 2005-December 2006. There are two other companies that make batteries for Nokia. if the battery says that it is made in Japan, go online and enter in the info. If it says made in China or Korea, these are not the batteries in question. Go to the website and read the product advisory instead of freaking out. At least they are doing something about the issue, as minute as it is. Lg has had an issue for sometime now, and they have never admitted to it. I saw an lg cu500, or what was left of it, last week that had it's battery explode, not just get hot. All I'm saying is, get your info correct...

  • 5 Posted by m_laidler948 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:32PM EDT Report Abuse

    Back in 2004, I had a Nokia BMS-2S 3.6V battery overheat after charging. I promptly took it to the Cingular (now AT&T) store where I purchased the battery, and they replaced it with another battery (a used one because mine was used) at no charge. The hot battery was manufactured in Japan.

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