Report: Hitachi to recall battery packs
679109
Japan's Hitachi Corp. said Friday that it plans to recall about 16,000 laptop battery packs made by Sony Corp., a company spokesman said, the latest in a massive global recall of the batteries that can overheat and catch fire.
602437
(InfoWorld) - Eight months after recalling potentially flammable notebook PC batteries, Toshiba is again urging its customers to trade in the defective units, saying one of its notebooks caught fire on May 24. Toshiba was one of many PC vendors that recalled more than 8 million rechargeable lithium-ion batteries made by Sony. A manufacturing defect left those batteries vulnerable to short-circuiting and catching fire if they were jostled, prompting the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue a broad recall. Dell was the first to recall those batteriesÂ in August 2006 and was quickly followed by Apple, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Gateway, and Sony. By October 2006, that defect had led to 16 reports of notebook computer batteries overheating, causing minor property damage and two minor burns, according to the Commission. On Tuesday, Toshiba said the latest fire was sparked by a battery that was never returned. "Recently, certain instances occurred where Sony battery packs installed in Toshiba portable computers caught fire," Toshiba said in a statement on its Web site. After an investigation with Sony, Toshiba found that the battery caused "the situation," the statement said. "The original Sony Battery Pack had not been replaced as recommended by Sony and Toshiba. We put importance on the fact that the incidents that occurred involved unreplaced Sony Battery Packs, despite our ongoing replacement program." In the original recall, the Commission warned laptop users to remove the batteries immediately and to power their PCs only by plugging them into a wall outlet until receiving a free replacement battery from the PC manufacturer. Laptop users were responsible for taking the initiative to return their own batteries, leading some analysts to predict that only a small percentage would do so. Other PC vendors may face the same challenge, although the Commission does not list any other fires. Dell is continuing to replace the faulty batteries, but a spokesman said he could not produce figures for the number of batteries replaced or whether the company had noted any overheating incidents since the recall began. "The recall's going well. Customers are taking heed to send back the affected batteries and have replacements sent to them," said Dell spokesman Bob Kaufman. In response to the latest fire, Toshiba warned customers to stop using the affected batteries immediately. Users who continue running their laptops on battery power should not leave their PCs unattended while they charge and should not place PCs on a sofa, bed or other surface that could obstruct its ventilation, Toshiba said. Toshiba has not changed the list of laptops that use the affected batteries. They include various models of the company's Portege, Qosmio, Satellite, and Tecra brand PCs. As with the original recall, Toshiba will replace all affected batteries for free.
95385
Lenovo is recalling approximately 205,000 lithium-ion batteries used worldwide in ThinkPad laptops, however this time Sony isn't the culprit. The batteries in this recall were produced by Sanyo.
426129
Hitachi Ltd. (6501.T) said on Friday it  will recall 16,000 batteries made by Sony Corp. (6758.T) for  laptop computers, joining a growing list of PC makers recalling  Sony batteries.
501052
Nintendo Co. Ltd.  said it would recall about 200,000 AC adaptors for its hot-selling DS and DS Lite handheld game machines in Japan, because they may overheat and cause burns on rare occasions.
180044
Lenovo Inc. recalled about 100,000 laptop computer batteries Thursday, warning that they could overheat and cause a fire.
69893
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.
517410
No. 3 computer maker Lenovo Inc. has recalled 208,000 laptop computer batteries that could overheat in the U.S. company's second recall in six months.
126567
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.
603950
Lenovo Group Ltd. (0992.HK) and  International Business Machines Corp.  are recalling  about 526,000 Sony Corp. (6758.T) batteries made for ThinkPad  notebook PCs after a computer caught fire at Los Angeles  International Airport, Lenovo and U.S. safety officials said on  Thursday.
653979
by STEVE HARTSOE  RALEIGH, N.C. - Lenovo Inc. recalled about 205,000 laptop computer batteries worldwide Thursday, warning that they could overheat and cause a fire.  The battery recall was the second for the company in the past six months and comes as Lenovo, the world's No.
354299
(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.
296625
Japanese electronics company Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. and computer vendor Lenovo Group Ltd. are discussing how to pay for the recall of over 200,000 laptop PC batteries, and may end up sharing the burden.
489802
By Kyodo News International, Tokyo  Mar. 2--NEW YORK -- Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo Group Ltd.  said Thursday it will voluntarily recall some 205,000 battery packs made by  Japan's Sanyo Electric Co.
321263
The batteries purchased as a ThinkPad upgrade may overheat when the laptop is dropped, product safety commission says.
87556
NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi say that Sanyo-made batteries may overheat and catch fire.
108208
(InfoWorld) - NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi Electric are planning to replace around 1.3 million batteries manufactured by Sanyo Electric because they may overheat and catch fire, the companies said Thursday. The batteries were manufactured before June of this year and are used in NTT DoCoMo's D902i handset. Some may have also been used in two other models of Mitsubishi Electric phone, the D902iS and D903iS, the companies said. The batteries carry the model number "D06." "In rare cases there is a slight deformation of the electrode plate which causes it to come into contact with the insulation sheet and hence the insulation sheet can become damaged," said Richard Sedgwick, a spokesman for Sanyo in Tokyo. "If the battery was also damaged through an outside side, for example if the user dropped the battery, then the problem could occur." NTT DoCoMo said it has confirmed one case of the battery rupturing because of the problem and knows of 17 other cases where the D06 battery has ruptured or overheated. The carrier said the battery had been subject to an "extremely strong impact" in a number of the cases. Sanyo said it began examining ways of strengthening the electrode in April this year as a precautionary measure against possible problems, but at the time had not heard any reports about actual problems. Batteries with stronger plating on the electrode began rolling off the company's production line in June, hence Thursday's advisory only concerns batteries manufactured until May. The problem brings back memories ofÂ Sony's battery problemsÂ of earlier this year. Around 9.6 million Sony-manufactured laptop computer batteries were recalled or voluntarily replaced by many laptop PC vendors after batteries in several PCs overheated and caught fire. The problem was traced back to metal particles that had gotten into the battery during manufacturing. Sony estimated the problems will cost it around Â¥51 billion ($444 million) this financial year. Sanyo said that it has yet to work out with NTT DoCoMo and Mitsubishi Electric the part it will play in the replacement. Sanyo and Sony are two of the world's largest manufacturers of Lithium Ion batteries. Â ADVERTISEMENTNEW IT SERVICES FROM IBM: EASIER TO BUY AND IMPLEMENTDiscover a simpler, more cost-effective way to get the solutions your company needs to grow more flexible and efficient.