Complain about a product or service

Sony Battery Recall Tops 10 Million

Fire Hazard Prompts Further Recalls

September 29, 2006

Related Stories • Feds Warn of Fire Hazard in Remote-Controlled Airplanes, Helicopters • New Rule Limits Lithium Batteries in Baggage • Georgia Man's Dell Laptop Bursts into Flames • Nokia Joins Battery Recall • Acer Recalls Notebook Computer Batteries • Batteries Could Run on Sugar • MacBook Battery Suspected in Australian Fire • Feds Consider New Lithium Battery Restrictions on Airplanes • Lenovo Recalls ThinkPad Extended-Life Batteries • Dell Sued in Canada Over Exploding Batteries • Sony Battery Recalls Continue • Add Hitachi to Battery Recall List • Sony Battery Recall Tops 10 Million • Lenovo, IBM Recall ThinkPad Notebook Batteries • Toshiba Recalls Sony Laptop Batteries • Laptop Fires Speed Development of Safer Batteries • Panasonic Recalls Laptop Batteries • High Tech Summit To Address Hot Battery Problem • Sony: No More Battery Recalls Expected • Dell Laptop Blamed for House Fire • Dell Battery Recall May Not Be the Answer • Insider: Dell Knew of Battery Problem for Years • Dell Plans Huge Recall of Troubled Batteries • Laptop Fires Worry Airline Safety Regulators • "Exploding" Dell Laptop Destroys Truck, Imperils Outsdoorsmen • Dell Denies It Knew of Overheating Battery Problem for Years • Dell Notebook Batteries Recall Notice --- Earlier Recalls ... • Dell Recalls Laptop Batteries • Dell Recalls Notebook Power Adapters • Dell Recalls Notebook AC Adapters (#2) • Dell Recalls Laptop Batteries

The bad news continues for Sony. The electronics giant says it will now recall more than 10 million of its lithium ion batteries, used to power laptop computers, because of concerns about a possible fire hazard.

Previously, nearly seven million batteries had been recalled from Dell, Apple, Toshiba, Lenovo and IBM computer users.

The company announced the recall Friday, saying it would provide replacement batteries.

The latest recall came earlier this week when Chinese computer maker Lenovo said it would recall 526,000 batteries. The same day, Toshiba Corp. and Fujitsu Ltd. also announced they would recall Sony-made batteries from users.

Sony's batteries are also used in Sony-made computers and those of Hitachi Ltd., Sharp Corp. and Hewlett-Packard.

Published reports say Sony reached its decision to increase the recall after talks with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, but a company spokesman in Tokyo said the recall remain voluntary. Sony has yet to announce which types of computers will have batteries recalled and how replacement services will take place.

However, soon after the announcement, Japanese electronics giant Toshiba said it was recalling batteries from the dynabook, Satellite, Qosmio, Tecra and Portege laptop models, a move expected to affect 830,000 computers worldwide.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that it is aware of at least 47 incidents related to defective laptop batteries. Among the most alarming incidents - a laptop that caught fire during a flight and another that burst into flames in a pickup truck, totally destroying the vehicle.

A man in South Venice, Fla. believes his Dell laptop is the cause of his house burning down. Louis Minnear said he found his couch engulfed in flames in the middle of the night.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |