Nokia to recall 46 million mobile phone batteries

Just yesterday, we were furrowing our brows at the thought of Toshiba recalling a paltry 1,400 laptop batteries, blissfully unaware that today would bring a battery recall a few orders of magnitude larger. Nokia, the world's largest mobile phone vendor, announced that it will recall and replace 46 million mobile phone batteries, free of charge. The batteries in question (all of which bear the model number BL-5C) were produced by Japanese manufacturer Matsushita between December 2005 and November 2006 and in some instances, can pose a safety hazard. Apparently, a short circuit can occur while the battery is charging, causing it to overheat and expand. According to Nokia, 100 cases of overheating have been reported thus far, though "[n]o serious injuries or property damage have been reported."

For more on the massive recall:
- see this press release

Check to see if your battery is affected:
- see this product advisory