Boom goes the lithium ion.
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Market-leading Dell begins a market-leading battery recall today. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says it's not only the largest battery recall, but the largest recall of any type of electronic product. Teaming with Dell, it plans to recall 4.1 million batteries. Sony, which manufactures the batteries in question, has pledged to assist Dell in the recall. Unfortunately, many Dell laptops use these Sony batteries, including models from the Latitude, Inspiron, and XPS laptop lines as well as Precision mobile workstations. Six incidents have been reported since June of a Dell laptop's battery exploding and catching fire. Here's the list of affected models:

Latitude: D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810

Inspiron: 6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m, 6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400, E1705

XPS: XPS, XPS Gen2, XPS M170, XPS M1710

Precision: M20, M60, M70, M90

If you purchased any of these models between April 2004 and July 18, 2006, you are urged to visit Dell's Web site on the matter or call 866/342-0011 (good luck getting through). Dell asks that you run your laptop on AC power until your replacement battery arrives. No word yet if other laptop vendors using Sony lithium-ion batteries will add to this already huge recall.

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