Fujitsu recalls batteries in 287,000 notebooks
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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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Toshiba Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. joined a growing list of computer makers recalling Sony Corp. batteries in the latest blow to consumer confidence in Sony's reputation as a manufacturer.
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(InfoWorld) - Fujitsu will offer owners of some of its laptop computers replacement batteries as part of Sony's global battery exchange program, it said Saturday. Sony announced the programÂ Friday in response to growing consumerÂ concerns about its laptop PC batteries, which are used by many companies. Since mid-August, about 6.6 million laptop batteries containing Sony-made cells have been recalled by computer makers because of a potential fire hazard. Fujitsu said it believes there is no danger in using Sony-made batteries in their machines, but following recalls from other PC vendors the companies are offering replacements to ease customers' concerns. The Fujitsu Japanese-market models are: FMV Biblo Loox P-series P70R and P70S and the Biblo Loox T-series T50M, T50R, T50RN, T50S, T50SN, T70M, T70M/T, T70MN, T70R, T70R/T, T70RN, T70S, T70S/V, T70SN and the FMV-P8210. Those sold outside Japan covered by the exchange are: Lifebook P1510, P1510D, P7120, P7120D, S7020, S7020D, S7025, S7025D, C1320 and C1320D. On FridayÂ Toshiba said it would offerÂ replacement batteries for an additional 830,000 PCs under the Sony program. Â ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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China's Lenovo will recall more than 200,000 battery packs for laptop computers jointly produced with ailing Japanese electronics maker Sanyo, the two companies said Friday.
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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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Dell Inc.'s record-setting recall of 4.1 million notebook computer batteries raised safety concerns about the power source of countless electronic devices, but experts said the problem appears to stem from flaws in the production of the laptop batteries, not the underlying technology.
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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.
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Apple Computer Inc. AAPL.O has  agreed to recall about 28,000 batteries used in its 15-inch  PowerBook G4 laptop computers, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety  Commission said on Thursday.
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Dell Inc. said Monday it will recall 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because they can overheat and catch fire. Dell negotiated conditions of the recall with the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission, which called it the largest electronics-related recall ever conducted by the agency.
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By From news reports  Toshiba issued a worldwide recall Tuesday of 340,000 batteries made by Sony for its laptop computers, citing recharging problems. The recall is the latest in a series of embarrassing manufacturing slips for Sony.
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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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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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(InfoWorld) - Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. (Panasonic) is recalling several thousand laptop computer battery packs because mechanical problems with the pack's latch could lead to overheating of the battery. The recall applies to around 6,000 battery packs that were shipped with its CF-W4G Let's Note W4 laptop computers in April and May of 2005, the company said Tuesday. The recall only applies to machines shipped in Japan. The problems arise if the owner sometimes drops the machine or sets it down on a table very roughly, said Akira Kadota, a spokesman for the company in Tokyo. On such occasions the small spring in the latch can penetrate the battery pack and cause a short circuit that leads to overheating, he said. Panasonic has documented two cases to-date of this happening with the battery packs under recall. "This is veryÂ different from the Sony case," he said referring to recent recalls by Dell and Apple ComputerÂ of almost 6 million battery packs containing Sony-made cells. Sony said the presence of metallic particles inside the battery meant there is a chance that the cells could overheat and catch fire under certain circumstances. The cells in the batteries under recall were not made by Sony or Panasonic, said Kadota. He wouldn't name the battery maker. Panasonic has posted details of the recall on the Internet in Japanese at:Â http://askpc.panasonic.co.jp/info/info_w4.html.ADVERTISEMENTMAKE SOA REAL WITH IBM WEBSPHERE PODCASTStreamline processes and maximize efficiency within a proven service oriented architecture. Take back control of your business processes with IBM WebSphere.
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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.
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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.
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Hewlett-Packard is making a high-stakes bet that it won't get burned by a bad battery. Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Toshiba and Fujitsu are recalling 7.7 million laptop batteries made by Sony. The batteries can, in rare instances, overheat and catch fire. HP uses Sony battery parts, too, but it is not recalling them. The company believes it is safe because it reviewed and rejected Sony battery parts for nearly a year before buying any, spokesman Mike Hockey says.
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Dell  said on Monday it  would recall 4.1 million notebook computer batteries because  they could overheat and catch fire, in the biggest recall in  the 22-year history of the world's largest personal computer  maker.