Toshiba Recalls Defective Sony-made Batteries

Laptop and notebook PC producer Toshiba Corporation announced that it will recall Li-ion based notebook battery packs made by Sony Corp. The exact number of defective notebook battery packs is not known but it is estimated at about 5100. For safety reasons, Toshiba will recall the entire manufacturing lot involved, that includes over 11000 laptop batteries, a spokesman from the company said and he was cited by the blog "Just Laptop Battery".

The same Toshiba Corporation spokesman said that this recall has nothing to do with the much larger recall of Sony made laptop and notebook battery pack from over a year ago. This recall should affect 10 laptop and notebook models sold worldwide. He also said that his company knew of three separate incidents where the batteries overheated and damaged the laptops and all three battery packs were from the recalled lot made by Sony.

A Sony spokesman said that all the defective batteries involved came from the same lot that his company made in December 2005, so it was the right choice for both companies to recall all the battery packs from that lot. He also said that Sony was investigating the problem and that it was limited to that lot. Both of the companies implied in the faulty battery recall expect the financial impact to be minimal.

This is not the first time when laptop or notebook battery pack with power cells made by Sony are recalled because of overheating and catching fire or otherwise damaging the laptops. Last year alone, the Japanese electronics makers Sharp and Fujitsu recalled all laptop batteries made by Sony from seven different laptop models plus all the batteries sold separately. In the U.S., Apple Computer alone recalled 1.8million lithium-ion notebook computer batteries after nine devices overheated, causing minor burns to two users. That battery packs recall was the second largest in the U.S. involving electronics or computers.