Japan: Investigate Dell Battery Issues

By the Betanews Staff | Published August 24, 2006, 1:11 PM

Pressure on Dell and Sony to investigate the issues surrounding the computer manufacturers exploding laptop battery problem is no longer coming from just the United States. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said the companies must find out why this is happening by the end of August and how it can be prevented, or face possible fines under the country's consumer safety laws.

In Japan, the ministry said at least twice in the past year, Sony batteries in the country had exploded and caught fire. Sony may have some early indications as to the cause of the problem: the company said that in the manufacturing process, loose metal shards within the battery were causing it to short circuit. However, Sony has not publicly confirmed that as the definite cause of the Dell battery issues.

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Ah, the beauty of outsourcing work to teenage girls in China.

No training, 12-18 hour days, 7 day workweek, cause a slowdown or problem and you're beaten then fired.

Welcome to the Global Economy.

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"Welcome to the Hyperbole" is more like it.

China isn't exactly the greatest adherent to human rights, but way to present things as worse than they are.

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I can't believe they are having to have 'pressure' applied to investigate - surely to gawd any company that had even the tiniest bit of respect for the safety of their customers should be INSTANTLY launching an investigation?

The fact that they are resisting, however they think the bad publicity may affect them, speaks volumes.

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"I can't believe they are having to have 'pressure' applied to investigate - surely to gawd any company that had even the tiniest bit of respect for the safety of their customers should be INSTANTLY launching an investigation?"

Agreed.

"The fact that they are resisting, however they think the bad publicity may affect them, speaks volumes."

Did it say they were resisting? I don't think they were, Sony and Dell, as much as some people in theese forums hate them, MUST comply with this investigation for their own good.

Even if you think Dell and Sony are nothing but a****** greedy bas****s, for the long run, they must comply with this so they can continue to fill their pockets with gold.

I predict Sony and Dell will fully comply with the requests, if not for the consumers' safety, for their own sakes.

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Of course they can do anything they want! They're Sony Damit! Seriously.. anyone who thinks Microsoft is the Evil Empire of Computers/Electronics hasn't really looked at Sony...

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Microsoft IS the evil empire of Computers. But like the empire of SW, Microsoft is slowly changing it's ways.

Sony, on the other hand, seems intent on making us suffer.

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"Sony, on the other hand, seems intent on making us suffer."

If there was a sound effect for eye-rolling, I would type it here.

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"If there was a sound effect for eye-rolling, I would type it here."

na‧ive [nah-eev] –adjective
1. having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information

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