Toshiba adds to Sony woes, recalls 340,000 batteries

Adding more to Sony battery woes, after Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. the latest in the string is Toshiba Corp., which said on Tuesday, that it would recall 340,000 laptop computer batteries globally made by Sony Corp.

The problem in the batteries causes the laptops to sometimes stop recharging or run out of power. The problem occurred in batteries used in Dynabook and Dynabook Satellite laptops manufactured between March and May this year. Due to the problems with storing and transmitting power, the laptops usually stop working, Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori informed.

He said no injuries or other accidents have been reported so far, but declined to give the number for the reported problems. Omori also declined to estimate the cost of the move, only saying it would not affect earnings, and would not say whether Toshiba was asking Sony to foot the bill.

The recall move by Tokyo, Japan based multinational high technology electrical and electronics manufacturing firm follows last month's battery recalls by Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc., which quoted woes that the batteries could overheat and catch fire.

Concerned companies had urged their customers to return approximately 6 million defected units. Dell asked customers to return 4.1 million faulty laptop batteries, while Apple recalled 1.8 million batteries globally. In both the cases, the problematic lithium-ion batteries were made by Sony Energy Devices Corp., a Japan-based subsidiary of Sony Corp.

But, in Toshiba case the defect is not directly related to that problem Apple and Dell confronted last month, overheat and catching fire hazards. Clarifying the nature of recent problem, Toshiba said that the defective batteries would not cause fires and the battery failure would occur only in rare cases. It said, the battery could fail regardless of how carefully it is used.

Tuesday's recall would affect 100,000 laptop batteries in the US, 45,000 in Japan, and the rest in other parts of the world, Omori said.

The array of production problems at Sony comes at a critical time when Tokyo, Japan -based one of the world's largest media conglomerates behind the PlayStation video game machines has been making efforts to buoy up its brand image.

Defective laptops will be replaced for free; however, Toshiba did not clarify whether Sony would pay for the replacements as the company did for both Dell and Apple.

Toshiba shares slipped by 0.8% to 786 yen in morning trading compared with a 0.53% gain in Tokyo's electrical machinery sub-index. Sony shares were also declined 0.6% at 4,940 yen.