14 DAY TRIAL // Fujitsu released a notice regarding the battery pack replacement program that Sony initiated this weekend. The company will recall 287000 battery packs worldwide, although Fujitsu declared they are not aware of any instances of battery pack problems involving Fujitsu notebook PCs similar to those that have been announced by Dell and Apple Computer.
Also, they say that in response to Sony's announcement, a decision was taken to "cooperate with Sony's voluntary battery replacement program", more specifically to "offer voluntary replacement of the Sony-made battery packs in the Fujitsu notebook PC models" that may be subjected to suspicions.
Details will be announced separately following consultation with Sony. Here are the designated notebook models subject to the Sony replacement program:
Sold in Japan: FMV-BIBLO LOOX P70R, P70S FMV-BIBLO LOOX T50M, T50R, T50RN, T50S, T50SN FMV-BIBLO LOOX T70M, T70M/T, T70MN, T70R, T70R/T, T70RN, T70S, T70S/V, T70SN FMV-P8210
Sold outside Japan: LIFEBOOK P1510, P1510D, P7120, P7120D LIFEBOOK S7020, S7020D, S7025, S7025D LIFEBOOK C1320, C1320D
Sony declared that its global replacement strategy is not obligatory, and it would depend on the outcome of consultations with individual computer makers. More than 7.000.000 batteries were recalled until now, but we may be witnessing more as the time passes.
While Sony agreed that battery failures reflect a manufacturing flaw in the battery cells it supplies, it also continued to say that the problem was at least partly caused by the laptops themselves. "The risk of fire can be affected by variations in the system configurations found in different notebooks".