Sony recalls batteries for Vaio notebook

Sony Corp. issued a recall of batteries for its Vaio notebook computers last week. The company revealed Thursday (Oct. 19) that the total number of its Li-ion batteries to be recalled has reached 9.6 million units from a total of eight notebook PC vendors and some other peripheral product vendors.

Sony appropriated about $432 million to cover the replacement of faulty battery packs used in notebook PCs made by Dell, Apple, Lenovo and others that used Sony's Li-ion batteries.

Sony also acknowledged that it has received a memo from Toshiba asking for compensation for supposed damage done to that company's computer brand name as a result of the battery recall.

The Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association recently formed a task force on its PC vendors' committee to set guidelines for safety use of lithium ion batteries in notebook PCs.

- Yoshiko Hara
EE Times