14 DAY TRIAL // Apple and Sony have to pay 1.3 million Yen (?6,500) to a Japanese couple who has had quite a bit of misfortune with their Mac which caught fire injuring the two, both physically and emotionally. According to this Macworld report, the Sony-made battery was the cause. Looks like the Sony Li-Ion battery issues aren't over yet.
Apple and Sony agreed to pay the 1.3 million Yen to settle a lawsuit arguing that the husband had suffered burns during the incident taking place in their Osaka home, while the wife's health was affected "due to the shock of the incident," the aforementioned source reports.
While Apple said the level of compensation the couple required was too high, the company's Japan branch did accept liability in court. Sony claimed that the link between the incident and its battery hadn't been determined, the same source reveals.
Sony has gone through a lot of battery issues with its lithium-ion (cell) batteries, having to recall 9.6 million such batteries from different computer manufacturers back in 2006, including Apple, following endless fire reports.
There have been cases before when Lithium-Ion batteries swelled during the recharging process, burst into flames, busted the device it was powering and so on. It has also happened again with first-generation iPods.
A recent Times Online report reveals that January saw a 1G iPod shooting out sparks while being recharged by its owner in Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo. The Japanese official informed that the respective iPod owner was not hurt.
Tens of millions of Li-Ion batteries powering up laptops, cell phones and other portables have been recalled during the past two years. Although they are still manufacturers' favorite kind, because they are lightweight and they can carry more energy for longer periods of time, companies dealing with such batteries have often had to replace them, mostly because of overheating issues.
Overheating likely occurs because of dust making its way inside the batteries during the manufacturing process.