Is your Nokia getting too hot to handle?

The company warns of the danger of its BL-5C batteries overheating and offers customers free replacements.

Do you use a Nokia mobile phone? If so, open the flap at the back and examine the battery inside. Check the particulars closely. Is it the BL-5C brand? Perhaps you should get it replaced.

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In the largest ever recall of a consumer electronics product, the world’s top handset manufacturer Nokia offered on Tuesday to replace free of cost 46 million of its BL-5C batteries. About 100 of these had been found to overheat while being charged, and thereafter to stop working.

The defective batteries were all part of the batch manufactured for Nokia by Japan’s well known Matsushita Battery Industrial Co between December 2005 and November 2006.

“Nokia had identified that in some cases the BL-5C batteries could potentially experience overheating, initiated by a short circuit while charging,” a company advisory said. “Concerned customers can request a replacement for any BL-5C battery subject to this product advisory,” it added.

The company pointed out that it had many suppliers for these batteries, around 300 million of which were in use worldwide.