Even though this has been reported and fixed it seems the fix has not gotten propagated for other models of the IBM Thinkpads.
I have a IBM T60 and have been having the same issue for quite some time.  First thought that it was something wrong with the hardware and then when I interrogated the logs I found the Critical temperature reached messages which took the system down.

/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:29:59 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 1824.712245] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:30:45 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [    0.520844] Critical temperature reached (99 C), shutting down.
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:45:49 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  749.322262] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 98 39 N/A 39 N/A 48 64 70 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  959.138235] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  959.169196] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  959.169682] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  959.212381] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 22:24:10 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 3996.049384] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 87 47 41 90 45 N/A 45 N/A 45 57 62 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 22:33:46 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 4571.363315] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 87 48 42 91 47 N/A 47 N/A 46 57 63 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 22:33:46 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 4571.363799] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:29:59 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 1824.712245] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:30:45 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [    0.520844] Critical temperature reached (99 C), shutting down.
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:45:49 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  749.322262] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 98 39 N/A 39 N/A 48 64 70 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  959.138235] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  959.169196] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  959.169682] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [  959.212381] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/syslog:May 12 22:24:10 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 3996.049384] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 87 47 41 90 45 N/A 45 N/A 45 57 62 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/syslog:May 12 22:33:46 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 4571.363315] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 87 48 42 91 47 N/A 47 N/A 46 57 63 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 
/var/log/syslog:May 12 22:33:46 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 4571.363799] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.


I have manually corrected for this by doing the following:
Created the file "/etc/modprobe.d/options" with the following line "options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1".
Then, after a reboot I was able to control the fan speed, setting it to automatic using "echo level full-speed > /proc/acpi/ibm/fan".

root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status:         enabled
speed:          2908
level:          disengaged
commands:       level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands:       enable, disable
commands:       watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))
root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status:         enabled
speed:          2908
level:          disengaged
commands:       level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands:       enable, disable
commands:       watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))
root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status:         enabled
speed:          2908
level:          disengaged
commands:       level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands:       enable, disable
commands:       watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))
root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status:         enabled
speed:          2908
level:          disengaged
commands:       level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands:       enable, disable
commands:       watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))

After a minute or so I heard the fan speed kick up and now it is running consistantly @:

root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status:         enabled
speed:          4692
level:          disengaged
commands:       level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands:       enable, disable
commands:       watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))
root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status:         enabled
speed:          4693
level:          disengaged
commands:       level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands:       enable, disable
commands:       watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))

Things seem to be better for the moment.

Hope they can implement the fix for all IBM Thinkpad models soon.