Nokia warns on overheating batteries, offers replacement

Nokia Corp. advised that its branded BL-5C battery, found in more than 50 handsets, is subject to overheating and popping out of the handset during recharging. The company has offered to replace the offending batteries upon request.
The Finnish vendor said, however, that only 100 such overheating incidents have been reported worldwide out of a potentially suspect batch of 46 million batteries. No injuries or handset damage has been reported, according to the company. More than 300 million of the batteries have been shipped, of which the 46 million is but a single batch from one supplier.
The suspect batch came from Matsushita Battery Industrial Co. Ltd. of Japan and was shipped between December 2005 and November 2006, according to Nokia. Matsushita will help foot an undisclosed portion of the bill for the battery replacements, according to a Reuters story. Each battery costs a few dollars.
In its product advisory, Nokia said: “Nokia has identified that in very rare cases the affected batteries could potentially experience over-heating initiated by a short circuit while charging, causing the battery to dislodge. Nokia is working closely with relevant local authorities to investigate this situation.”
A spokesperson on Tuesday clarified the statement.
“This is an over-heating issue, not a fire or explosion issue,” said Keith Nowak, a Nokia spokesperson. “If you’re concerned, take a look and if you have a suspect battery, we’ll send you another one.”
Nowak said that consumers should open their Nokia handset and if the battery model is BL-5C, take out the battery and check its 26-digit serial number. At Nokia.com/batteryreplacement, a consumer can punch in the 26-digit number and learn whether it comes from the suspect batch of 46 million units. If so, the consumer can type in their name and address and Nokia will send a replacement free of charge.
The company provided a list of 52 handsets that use the BL-5C, but said it could not generalize about the geographic distribution of the offending batteries.