Sony to launch notebook battery recall

Sony plans to recall 340,000 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that shipped with notebook computers in the US, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced on Monday.

The news comes on top of Sony's earlier recall this month of 60,000 batteries for its popular Vaio range of laptops due to concerns about potential overheating. At the time a Sony spokeswoman said that the recall was initially confined to Japan, but could extend overseas.

Batteries that shipped with laptops sold by Fujitsu, Gateway, Sony and Toshiba comprise the latest recall, the CPSC said in a statement issued yesterday in the US. Sony is expected to make its own official announcement in Japan today, CPSC said in a statement.

According to the CPSC, the decision to recall the batteries is based on 16 previous reports of notebook batteries overheating, causing minor property damage and two minor burns, the statement said.

However, notebook users in the US and Japan are not the only ones affected by the recall of the potentially dangerous batteries in certain product makes.

Nearly every major laptop maker was forced to tell customers to return Sony-made lithium-ion batteries, with more than eight million batteries subject to replacement worldwide.

Sony said late August that it would incur costs of up to US$257 million (AU$341.64 million) after massive recalls of its lithium-ion batteries by US computer makers Apple Computer and Dell. Adding to the consumer giant's woes, some Japanese firms were also considering demanding compensation.