IBM to recall 5 lakh laptop batteries

Source : www.ibnlive.com
Dated : 01/10/2006

Washington: 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 on Friday.

IBM and the batteries' distributor, Lenovo Inc. of Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, were seeking the voluntary recall of the rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries used in ThinkPad notebook computers because they may pose a fire hazard.

About 168,500 of them were sold in the US, while the rest were distributed worldwide, the CPSC said.

It was the fourth recall in recent months involving Sony batteries believed to be defective.

In August, Dell asked customers to return 4.1 million faulty laptop batteries and Apple recalled 1.8 million batteries worldwide, warning they could catch fire.

Last week, Toshiba said it was recalling 340,000 laptop batteries due to a problem that caused the laptops to sometimes run out of power.

In the latest recall, Lenovo cited a potential risk following one confirmed report of a Sony battery overheating and causing a fire that damaged the notebook computer.

The fire, which occurred in an airport terminal as the user was boarding a plane, caused enough smoke that a fire extinguisher was needed to put it out.

There was minor property damage and no injuries were reported.

Spokeswoman for CPS, Julie Vallese, said the overheating poblem did not appear to be linked to the defects cited in the Apple and Dell case.

But IBM and Lenov sought a recall as a precution given Sony's past problems, she said.