14 DAY TRIAL // Owners of the Sony VAIO Fit 11A convertible laptop, be warned! Sony has recently made an announcement saying that nearly 26,000 units might be affected by overheating battery problems.
The batteries have been manufactured by Panasonic and according to the piece of information, they are at risk of overheating and catching fire. As a result, Sony is urging VAIO Fit 11A owners to stop using the devices immediately, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Sony has made the announcement after receiving three independent reports of batteries overheating and causing damage to the laptops. One of the incidents took place in Japan on March 19, while the second one happened on March 30 in Hong Kong. The most recent one took place on April 8 in China.
The company has stopped selling the VAIO Fit 11A starting this month. The convertible is one of the last models from the VAIO line. Back in February, we brought you news that Sony was said to consider selling its failing VAIO business to the likes of Lenovo, king of the PC market.
The VAIO Fit 11A went on sale in February and since then, the company is said to have sold a total of 25,905 units worldwide. Out of this number, 7,000 were reportedly sold in Asia-Pacific (except Japan and China). 3,600 units have been shipped in Japan, 2,000 in China, 7,000 in Europe, 5,600 in Latin America and a meager 500 in the US.
A Panasonic official has confirmed that the company has provided the battery for the VAIO Fit 11A devices, but she didn’t say which other manufacturers had also received Panasonic batteries.
In 2010, Sony went through a similar mishap when it had to recall 535,000 VAIO laptops due to problems caused by a temperature-control issue that caused the laptop to overheat.
Interestingly enough, late last month, we told you that Sony had apparently stopped selling VAIO laptops and tablets running Windows 8 in Europe. The products might still appear as listed in official Sony locations, but the link to the online store is no longer accessible. However, US customers are still offered the chance to purchase some VAIO products.
Anyway, fire hazard when laptops are concerned seems to be a regular occurrence these days. Last month, we told you that Lenovo was also recalling ThinkPad Edge 11, 13 and 14 series laptop battery packs. At the time, Lenovo advised customers to keep using the laptops by keeping the power cord plugged in.
Sony is taking a more extreme route and is urging users to stop using the laptops altogether. Moreover the company has stopped selling the VAIO Fit 11A, so the VAIO family is ready to be put to sleep.