Burned by Overheating Batteries, Nokia Recalls 46 Million

While no one has been injured and there are no reports of property damage, Nokia recalled 46 million batteries because they can overheat while recharging. The battery, model BL-5C, is used in dozens of Nokia phones. However, the recall does not affect every single battery of that model, the company said.

Finnish cell phone giant Nokia (NYSE: NOK)  will replace for free 46 million batteries due to an overheating problem, even though incidents of the batteries malfunctioning have been "very rare."

The company will replace any Nokia-branded BL-5C battery made by Matsushita Battery Industrial between December 2005 and November 2006. About 100 of these 3.7 volt batteries have malfunctioned so far, causing them to overheat due to a short circuit while being charged, Nokia said. The overheating makes the batteries "dislodge," the company said, stressing that nobody has been injured and no property damage has been reported.

The recall does not apply to any other Nokia-branded battery and only to a portion of the BL-5C batteries that were sold. Nokia has several suppliers for BL-5C batteries "who have collectively produced more than 300 million" of the units, the company said. It is "working closely" with Matsushita and cooperating with authorities investigating the problem...