Lithium Ion Cells Can Pose Dangers in Improper Hands, Battery Trade Group Tells FTC

The agency sought comments to prepare for a July 16 “Nixing the Fix” workshop on whether manufacturer restrictions on third-party repairs can thwart the consumer protections in the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (see 1904210001). Monday was the first time the FTC posted the comments it received by the April 30 deadline. We had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all such documents.

Lithium ion batteries are “the chemistry of choice today for small, rechargeable consumer batteries,” said PRBA, whose members include Apple, Duracell, Energizer, LG Chem, Microsoft, Motorola, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony, plus automakers Ford, General Motors and Toyota. “These batteries are safe, popular, and enable innovative portable electronic devices to function in an efficient and safe manner.”

The batteries, the devices they power and their “associated chargers” are “designed to operate as a ‘system’ with redundant and sophisticated safety components," said PRBA. “Lack of understanding of these critical safety components that can be damaged during repairs by consumers or poorly trained service centers could ultimately jeopardize the safety of consumers and the public in general.”

Rigt-to-repair advocacy company iFixit conceded in its own comments to the FTC that “there’s always going to be some risk involved during a repair,” but said the risk for the most part was “pretty low” (see 1905160002). It didn’t comment Tuesday on PRBA’s newly posted filing.

Lithium ion batteries “are subject to strict safety standards and must be manufactured with redundant safety features to protect against internal and external short circuits,” said PRBA. Certain “overcharge conditions” can cause a phenomenon called “thermal runaway,” which occurs “when the internal cell reaction generates more heat than the cell can dissipate,” it said.

Thermal runaway can result from “mechanical damage, improper handling, poor battery design, inadequate safety features, or manufacturing defects,” said PRBA. “The safety features integrated into lithium ion batteries are designed to prevent such thermal events during normal conditions of use. However, damage or misuse of a battery can overcome these safety features and trigger such an event.”

PRBA is “strongly opposed” to the recent practice of reselling used or refurbished batteries on the internet, it said. “These are cells that may have been used in a specific product,” then removed from the device “after it has been discarded or repaired,” it said. It’s often “not possible for a consumer or repair facility to know the origin of these cells” or how they were previously used, including whether “they have been damaged in a previous application,” said PRBA. “Some sellers are re-branding used cells to intentionally misrepresent the capacity and/or original manufacturer -- which could lead to a consumer unknowingly using cells incompatible with their product, posing a safety hazard.”

Videogame makers conceded console technological protection measures (TPMs) and other design decisions can impact repairs, commenting April 30 to the FTC's right-to-repair proceeding. The agency posted comments Monday in part after our Freedom of Information Act request for all such comments. "TPMs and other design choices reflect a necessary weighing of multiple risks," said the Entertainment Software Association, which noted its members include Microsoft, Nintendo of America and Sony Interactive Entertainment. "As a practical matter, the use of TPMs tends to limit the ability to make certain types of repairs to consoles and other products to authorized parties."

ESA noted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits "tampering with the digital locks that copyright owners use to protect this software." "Despite these design decisions" of component integration and cutting manufacturing costs and prices as well as energy use, consoles "generally do not require proprietary tools to open or repair them," the group said in docket FTC-2019-0013. "Compatible tools, such as tri-wing screwdrivers, are inexpensive and widely available."

On adhesives, which other commenters that released their filings raised concerns about, console makers sometimes use them "to optimize product design and for safety reasons," ESA said. "Adhesives serve an important safety function in preventing access to lithium-ion batteries, which present special safety considerations (both for repair and proper disposal)."

Consumer Reports "does support right to repair generally," a spokesperson emailed when we asked about CR's principles on this matter. "We have been advocating for bills in multiple states." Many states recently introduced such bills, but some consumer tech interests oppose them (see 1903190031). ESA couldn't immediately provide us with its own right to repair principles, beyond its intellectual property concerns. CR's comments also were just posted.

CR has "developed a model state law, and are working to help enact effective right-to-repair laws in a number of states, including co-sponsoring a bill currently under consideration in California," it wrote: "Adverse reliability reports" to the product research and ratings provider "demonstrate the common consumer experience of having products break and need repair, and the importance of having convenient and affordable options to obtain repair."