Sony's Notebook Batteries Under Investigation

After Dell has recalled no less than 4,1 million notebook batteries, Sony could also face the same financial disaster if the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's investigation will show that the maker's batteries could endanger the consumers.

But the problem is pretty serious, as Sony's batteries aren't used only in Dell's notebooks, but also in the ones retailed by Apple, HP and Lenovo. Daily Tech said that HP representatives recently stated that this "it's a Dell issue" and that the company will not be affected by the Commission's investigation.

"Analysts say that Dell's recall of 4.1 million batteries could cost up to $300 million depending on how many users actually send in their batteries. Lenovo told reporters that it was not recalling any batteries yet and Apple said it would look into the situation. Out of all the manufacturers using batteries from Sony, only Dell has issued a recall. Interestingly, a Sony representative told reporters that Sony believes the problem to be isolated to just Dell," writes Daily Tech.

The issue started earlier this month, when Apple started to recall several batteries which were shipped along with MacBook Pro notebooks saying that the devices didn't work according to standards and could endanger the users' health.

On the other hand, in Dell's 'recall press release' it is said that the batteries ("Dell-branded lithium-ion batteries made with cells manufactured by Sony") could determine a "Fire Hazard".

"We would expect it to have no material impact on our financials," Dell's chairman Michael Dell declared on the occasion of a conference held by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore. "We have been working very closely with Sony to understand what occurred in the process during the period of contamination and to understand what counter measures they have taken. We are confident that they have taken the right counter measures and the process is now secure."