HP DELL TOSHIBA Recalls Sony batteries due to fire hazard

The U.S. government on Thursday (October 30, 2008) issued a recall of 35,000 Sony Corp notebook computer batteries, calling them a fire hazard to consumers.

The recall affects Sony lithium-ion batteries that were used mainly in computers from Hewlett-Packard Co, with a smaller number in notebooks from Dell and Incand Toshiba Corp .

The recall affects around 32,000 HP notebooks, 3,000 from Toshiba, and 150 Dell computers.

Sony blamed the faulty batteries on manufacturing line adjustments in 2004 and 2005, which it believes may have affected the quality of some cells. Other incidents of overheating may have involved a problem with raw materials.

It may be noted that last month the consumer electronics giant SONY recalled 438,000 of its Vaio laptops due to battery overheating concerns.

According to Reuters, there has been 19 reports of the batteries overheating, including 17 reports of fire with two people experiencing minor burns.

Sony spokeswoman Elizabeth Boukis told that the company will support the U.S. recall, along with that of an additional 65,000 batteries worldwide. On a global basis, PC makers have reported 40 overheating incidents.

Boukis said batteries covered by the new recall are unrelated to those in company's massive 2006 recall. That action covered 9.6 million batteries and cost the company millions.