Dell is facing a class action lawsuit in Canada, over
its alleged slow reaction to the fire hazard laptop battery debacle
last year.
The lawsuit claims design defects make the Dell laptops
susceptible to problems and that Dell should have stopped selling
the machines sooner.
Dell eventually recalled more than four million batteries when
it became known that batteries manufactured by Sony posed a
potential fire hazard.
Other laptop manufacturers, including Apple, Toshiba, Lenovo,
that used the same type of battery from Sony, recalled a total of
well over two million additional batteries.
The Canadian class action suit has been filed in the Ontario
Superior Court by Thad Griffin, an Ontario resident, on behalf of
other users of Dell Inspiron laptops.
The lawsuit alleges that design defects make certain Inspirons
susceptible to overheating, and that this overheating can cause
extra wear and tear to the motherboard, resulting in premature
failure.
The legal action applies to Inspiron models 1100, 1150, 5100,
5150 and 5160.
The action is seeking to force Dell Canada to replace the
defective computers or cover the cost of repairs.
The lawyer handling the lawsuit said there appeared to be a
“systematic problem” with Inspirons, and that the overheating
problem seemed to come to the fore when the usual one-year warranty
came to an end.
Comment on this article:
computer.weekly@rbi.co.uk