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.
