Gateway Recalls More Notebook Batteries

A year after competitors Lenovo, Dell, and Apple recalled hundreds of thousands of laptop batteries after reports that they caused overheating and fires, Gateway has reopened its doors to 14,000 additional units.

Although the number of batteries being recalled is somewhat small in comparison, it denotes that notebook owners are hardly safe, even now, from poorly designed parts.

Although Gateway hasn't been fingered as publicly as Lenovo, Dell, or Apple, the company has made its own recall before. In October of last year it called back 35,000 of the batteries produced by Sony after worries that notebook computers could actually catch fire if dropped at the right moment.

The most recent recall is similar, although the battery manufacturer has changed. Sony's no longer at fault in this case, instead replaced by equally popular tech company Samsung. Producers of anything from televisions to MP3 players, Samsung's reputation may be hurt amidst fears that their batteries overheat. A lesser known vendor, Taiwan's Simplo Technology, is also on the hook for producing the faulty battery packs. (Source: pcworld.com)

Gateway currently sits as the third most popular vendor in the American notebook market. The company faces a difficult task persuading customers to send in their computers, while also hoping Simplo and Samsung take some of the financial responsiblity.

Although it's been some time since battery recalls manifested in one of 2006's major tech news stories, fear could again be rising amongst manufacturers and the public alike. Toshiba announced today that a UK-based Sony battery unit recently burst into flames. (Source: irishexaminer.com)