Sony, Dell, Hewlett Packard Recall Laptop Batteries

Sony has had to recall more batteries for fear faulty batteries will cause the computers to overheat. Sony announced today that it would recall 100,000 batteries affecting five major PC makes including Sony itself, Toshiba, Dell and HP.

Today’s recall is the second in as many months for song. The Japanese company recalled nearly 450,000 of of its Vaio laptops citing overheating concerns. While 100,000 may seem a lot, the number is dwarfed by the fact that just two years ago, Sony as forced to recall 9.6 million laptops following concerns about batteries.

The U.S. government issued a recall of 35,000 Sony batteries yesterday and Sony itself said it would be recalling a further 65,000 batteries worldwide. The government (specifically, the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission) issued the recall following a number of complaints that laptops were reheating. According to Reuters, PC makers have reported 40 cases of overheating, including four cases where users suffered minor burns, and 21 cases of minor damage from fires and overheating.

Hewlett Packard is the worst affected with around 33,000 units affected. Recalled models are the HP Pavilion dv1000, dv8000 and zd8000, the Compaq Presario v2000 and v2400 and the HP Compaq nc6110, nc6120, nc6140, nc6220, nc6230, nx4800, nx4820, nx6110, nx6120, nx9600. Recalled models will have a bar code label starting with A0, L0, L1 or GC. Affected Toshiba models are the Satellite A70/A75, P30/P5, M30X/M35X, M50/M55 and the Tecra A3, A5, S2. The Commission says 3,000 Toshiba models are affected. With only 150 computers are affected, Dell was dealt the best of the heavy blows. Just the Latitude 110L and Inspiron 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150, 5160 models are affected and only those with battery model number OU091.

More information on recalled products (for the United States) is available from the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission.