Fujitsu to recall 287,000 Sony-made batteries
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Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd.   6702.T said on Wednesday it would recall 287,000 notebook PC   batteries made by Sony Corp. 6758.T, bringing the number of   Sony batteries recalled to more than 7.5 million.
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WASHINGTON -- Consumers are being asked to return 526,000 laptop batteries made by Sony Corp. because they could catch fire, the latest in a record-setting recall involving nearly 7 million computers.
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Computer maker Fujitsu is recalling 287,000 Sony laptop batteries because of a potential fire risk.
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TOKYO -- Toshiba is recalling 340,000 laptop batteries made by Sony Corp. because of problems with recharging them, the latest in a string of embarrassing defects and production glitches for Sony.
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PC Magazine - Hitachi Ltd. said on Friday it will recall 16,000 batteries made by Sony Corp. for laptop computers, joining a growing list of PC makers recalling Sony batteries.
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WASHINGTON -- IBM Corp. is recalling 526,000 laptop batteries worldwide made by Sony Corp., the latest in a series of problems with Sony batteries, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
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(InfoWorld) - Fujitsu'sÂ recall of defective batteriesÂ will affect 287,000 notebook PCs, including 63,000 in Japan, the company said Wednesday. Fujitsu last week became the fifth recent PC vendor to recall batteries using lithium-ion cells made by Sony Energy Devices. A manufacturing defect can cause those cells to short circuit, overheating and in some cases catching fire. So Fujitsu has asked both users of certain notebook PCs and dealers with unsold computers in their inventory to return the affected batteries, said Sean Nemoto, investor relations manager for Fujitsu. Dell started the rush when it announced on Aug. 14 it wouldÂ recall 4.1 million batteries, following complaints from a handful of customers that their PCs had burst into flames. Other vendors quickly followed, includingÂ Apple Computer,Â Toshiba,Â Lenovo Group, IBM, andÂ Fujitsu. Together they have recalled 7.9 million batteries. Sony has beenÂ pushing vendors to recall its batteriesÂ even in the absence of customer complaints. Sony said Thursday that it was working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to recall any remaining defective cells in notebooks worldwide. The move will not affect other types of consumer electronics that use lithium-ion cells, such as cameras and music players. Notebook vendors insist that the number of actual fires is very small, amounting to just fractions of a percent compared to the many millions of batteries recalled. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has counted 47 incidents of smoke or fire coming from notebook computers from January 2001 to August 2006. Sony and the vendors continue to debate whether the fault lies solely in battery cell manufacturing, or also in the design of notebook PCs. Sony designs its batteries to shut down after a short circuit, but in certain occasions they will continue to overheat. "The potential for this to occur can be affected by variations in the system configurations found in different notebook computers," the company said. Hewlett-Packard said Monday that its customers had not experienced any overheated batteries thanks to redundant safety features used in HP notebooks. "Because of HP's PC system configuration, HP notebooks using Sony battery cells are not prone to overheating issues that have recently been observed," the companies said in a joint statement. However, other vendors insist their designs are also safe. Dell's recall is careful to state that "only the described batteries are subject to this recall and not the notebook computers themselves."
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The troubled electronics maker, already reeling from a string of embarrassing manufacturing glitches, takes another hit. Now Toshiba is recalling 340,000 Sony-made laptop batteries because they might fail to recharge.
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Toshiba is recalling 340,000 laptop batteries made by Sony Corp. because of problems with recharging them, the latest in a string of embarrassing defects and production glitches for Sony.
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Computer-maker Lenovo announces the recall of more than 500,000 laptop computer batteries made by Sony.
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(InfoWorld) - Dell has increased by 100,000 the number of laptop batteries it is recalling due to a potential fire hazard, while Toshiba said it would take part in Sony's voluntaryÂ battery replacement programÂ kicked off Thursday. Fujitsu indicated that it was also considering a voluntary recall. Dell said it received new information that caused it to increase its recall to 4.2 million batteries from 4.1 million. It urged customers to visitÂ itsÂ battery recall siteÂ and to recheck their batteries to see if they are affected. The site has received almost 200 million hits since theÂ recall was first announcedÂ in August, Dell said. The problems affect battery packs containing Sony-made Lithium Ion cells. Sony has discovered that metallic particles in the cells created during the manufacturing process could cause a short-circuit. That short-circuit could in turn result in a fire, depending on the way the laptop is designed. While the affected notebooks from Dell and Apple Computer, which hasÂ recalled 1.8 million batteries, pose a potential fire hazard, Toshiba said its laptops are not in danger of catching fire. It said it was recalling the laptops voluntarily to ease concerns among customers. Toshiba offered toÂ replace 830,000 laptops, including some of its popular Satellite and Portege models. Fujitsu indicated that it would also be likely to join the voluntary recall, although details had not been announced late Friday in Japan. Toshiba, and possibly Fujitsu, are taking advantage of a program announced by Sony on Thursday, which said it would conduct a battery-replacement program in conjunction with laptop makers worldwide. One day earlier, Lenovo GroupÂ added its nameÂ to the list of manufacturers recalling Sony-made battery packs, saying it will recall 526,000 notebooks. Other laptop makers are expected to follow suit and offer new batteries to their customers, said Takashi Uehara, a spokesman for Sony in Tokyo. The plan might reassure consumers but will also increase the cost to Sony of the problems. In late August, Sony said it wouldÂ incur costsÂ of between Â¥20 billion and Â¥30 billion ($170 million to $255 million), but that was only for the recalls announced by Dell and Apple. Sony has not updated investors since then. Its battery problems began in October last year when Dell approached the company about a possible problem involving Sony Lithium Ion cells used in battery packs in Dell laptops. Sony changed its manufacturing process to lessen the chance of metallic particles being left in its products, but it wasn't until August this year -- after several well-publicized cases of Dell laptops catching fire -- that Dell began recalling batteries. Apple followed on Aug. 25 with its own recall of 1.8 million batteries, and on Thursday Lenovo joined the list. Together, the recalls that cite a potential fire hazard total about 6.5 million battery packs. Separately, Toshiba last week offered to exchange 340,000 Sony notebook batteries, but not because of a fire hazard. Instead, the defective batteries could unexpectedly cut power to the notebooks, causing users to lose unsaved work, the company said. The latest reports from Toshiba and Fujitsu came after the stock market closed in Japan, but the Lenovo recall had little effect on Sony shares, which closed trading on Friday at Â¥4,780, down less than 1 percent on the day. The overall Japanese stock market as measured by the Nikkei 225 index rose by just under 1 percent to 16,127 points.
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Toshiba is recalling 340,000 laptop batteries worldwide made by Sony Corp., the latest in a series of problems for the company.
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By NO BYLINE  TOSHIBA is to recall and replace 340,000 faulty batteries manufactured by rival Sony and used in its laptop computers, the third product recall suffered by Sony in just over a month.
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Japan's Hitachi Corp. said Friday that it plans to recall about 16,000 laptop battery packs made by Sony Corp. over possible overheating problems, a news report said.
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Shares in Sony Corp. (6758.T) fell to a 2  month low on Monday after Toshiba Corp. (6502.T) and Fujitsu  Ltd. (6702.T) joined the list of PC makers recalling Sony-made  batteries, boosting the potential blow to its earnings.
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Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd.   6702.T said on Wednesday it would recall 287,000 notebook PC   batteries made by Sony Corp. 6758.T.
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The massive global recall of batteries made by Sony Corp. widened Wednesday as Japanese electronics maker Fujitsu Ltd. said it is recalling 287,000 laptop batteries that are at risk of overheating or catching fire.