A couple of weeks ago Dell recalled a batch of bad batteries that were potential Molotov Cocktails and then this week Apple did the same thing. Now we find that in the case of Dell, whose batteries were manufactured by Sony, both Dell and Sony knew there was a problem ten months ago!
According to an Inforworld article “Dell and Sony knew about and discussed manufacturing problems with Sony-made Lithium-Ion batteries as long as ten months ago, but held off on issuing a recall until those flaws were clearly linked to catastrophic failures causing those batteries to catch fire, a Sony Electronics spokesman said Friday.” So, what Sony’s droid was really saying was “Rather than do the right thing and recall the batteries back when we first found out about the problem we figured we’d save a few bucks by waiting to see if the problem was really as bad as it might be … it’s all about the dosh, isn’t it?” Now I love Sony products — all of the laptops I’ve really liked have been VAIOs — but it seems that their corporate attitude towards responsible behavior does not err of the side of caution or favor the consumer. Remember their little DRM fracas last year? As for Dell, the fact that they knew that a problem of that magnitude was brewing and did nothing about it is inexcusable. I wonder whether the Dell board will be making some executive rearrangements? I wonder if a consumer backlash is in the offing for either of theses companies or do consumers not understand these issues well enough for their brands to be damaged? My money, unfortunately, is on the latter.
