Toshiba says it is recalling 340,000 batteries used in some of its laptop computers, becoming the third computer maker to recall Sony-made batteries.
The batteries are being recalled because of a number of problems, none of which are directly related to overheating, company officials said.
Earlier, Dell Computer and Apple recalled nearly six million Sony lithium ion batteries between them, because of problems with overheating that may, in some cases, lead to fire.
Toshiba has reported no such mishaps linked to its Sony batteries. Instead, the batteries have quickly run out of power and suffered other unnamed operational defects.
"We have found no evidence that the problem reported by Dell and Apple in their recalls applies to our notebook PCs," Toshiba said in a statement. "Sony has confirmed to us that there is no such problem as cited in the recalls of Dell and Apple with the battery packs supplied to Toshiba."
The company said in a statement on its Web site that it and Sony jointly investigated the problem to make sure that it was not related to overheating. It said it found that the system design and the protection system of Toshiba notebook PCs differ from those of Dell and Apple.
Most of the recalled batteries are in computers sold in the United States, according to Toshiba.
The problems have been reported in some of the battery packs for Dynabook and Satellite laptop models produced by Toshiba from March through May this year. The company said replacement batteries will be provided affected consumers at no charge.
