Recall brings fresh worries over Sony laptop batteries

Recall brings fresh worries over Sony laptop batteries

Sony's reputation was dealt another blow yesterday when 830,000 laptop batteries it made for Toshiba were recalled. Compaq Laptop Battery

It brings the number of recalled Sony-made batteries to more than 7m worldwide.

Toshiba said the recall would affect its Dynabook, Qosimo, Satellite, Portege and Tecra models, but was not immediately able to specify which machines and regions were affected.

On the same day, Sony announced a global replacement programme for its lithium-ion batteries in response to consumer concerns. EVO N610C, It said it would announce at a later date the number of batteries to be recalled and computer makers involved. The Japanese electronics company Fujitsu was also expected to announce a recall of Sony batteries used in its range of personal computers.

The problem, which happens only in rare cases, occurs when microscopic metal particles inside the batteries come into contact with other parts of the battery, causing the computer to short-circuit. Most affected PCs simply overheat but there have been cases of them catching fire.

Toshiba said there were no reports of its computers catching fire and it had ordered the recall in response to a request from Sony, amid growing anxiety among users.Presario 1200, "We wanted to assure and satisfy our customers," said Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori.

Toshiba is one of several companies whose recall of laptop batteries has called Sony's reputation into question.EVO N620C, But there was relief for Sony when Dell said it would continue to buy the firm's laptop batteries.

Analysts said that Sony's future as a supplier appeared secure. "Over the longer term, Sony will remain one of the top-class battery suppliers, and it is unrealistic that PC makers halt procurement from Sony," Morgan Stanley analyst Masahiro Ono told Reuters.Presario 700, Yusuke Sakai, manager of equities trading at Mizuho Securities, said: "The saga goes on, but the recall programme itself has been partly factored into the share price."

On Thursday, Lenovo, the world's third-largest computer maker, had announced the recall of 526,000 rechargeable lithium-ion batteries that come with ThinkPad computers sold after February 2005.

Lenovo, a Chinese firm that took over the ThinkPad from IBM in May 2005, confirmed that one of the models had burst into flames Presario 1800, at Los Angeles international airport this month. The firm estimated that between 5% and 10% of machines were affected but it expected "minimal" impact from the recall, which is being paid for by Sony.

In Tokyo Sony shares fell by about 1% to 4,770 yen yesterday after it announced the global recall, despite a 0.15% rise in the benchmark Nikkei average. Sony shares have lost 8.8% since Dell announced its battery recall last month.