Nokia Batteries Risk of Overheating -- 46 million Devices Affected

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Initially, many were trying to assign the blame to third party battery manufactures but then realized that it was Nokia’s BL-5C battery itself the main suspect. A total of 46 million batteries, manufactured by Matsushita (Panasonic) between December 2005 and November 2006, pose a high risk and will dislodge from the phone. In some cases, the battery may burn and short circuit the device causing significant damage.

Nokia said the danger arose only when the batteries were recharging and didn’t cause any serious injuries or property damages so far. But in 2005, one Nokia customer lost his leg while using a handset; he filed a lawsuit claiming the battery exploded. Nokia said the overheating doesn’t cause any explosion but the battery expands with heat and may pop out of the phone.

If you have a Nokia handset, make sure your phone doesn’t have this battery. Here is the list of phones that uses this battery BL-5C. If so, then Nokia will replace the battery for free.

Here is a full copy of the Product advisory.

If you use a Nokia phone check to make sure you don’t use the battery. This is the second big recall of batteries from Japan, the first was Sony Batteries recalls that were used in Toshiba laptops. It seems the whole world is recalling one product or another.