After Sony now Sanyo forces Lenovo to recall batteries

Lenovo, the world's third-largest laptop-maker, in association with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, on Thursday issued a worldwide voluntary recall of approximately 205,000, extended-life 9-cell Lithium-ion batteries used in ThinkPad laptops, warning that they could overheat and pose a fire hazard to users.

After receiving four reports of batteries overheating and damaging the notebook, Lenovo recalled the defected lithium-ion batteries, manufactured by the Japanese company Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd.

The incidences due to faulty Sanyo lithium-ion batteries included damages to the laptops, minor property damage, and in one case, a user suffered minor eye irritation.

Yesterday’s recall that includes about 100,000 batteries in the United States and another 105,000 worldwide is Chinese laptop maker Lenovo’s second in six weeks. In September 2006, Lenovo and IBM recalled more than half a million notebook computer batteries made by Sony.

As part of the much larger recall of the Sony batteries, under which Dell recalled 4.1 million Sony batteries, Toshiba 340,000, and Apple 1.8 million, Lenovo and IBM recalled about 526,000 Sony lithium-ion batteries that were used in their notebooks.

Headquarters in Research Triangle Park, the PC maker has warned its consumers, who bought these systems or an optional or replacement battery between November 2005 and February 2007, to stop using the machines immediately.

Lenovo said that the recall only applied to nine-cell batteries used in the following ThinkPad notebook models: R Series (R60 and R60e), T Series (T60 and T60p) and Z Series (Z60m, Z61e, Z61m, and Z61p). The recalled batteries bear the part number, FRU P/N 92P1131, which is printed on the battery label.

Lenovo, which is offering to replace the batteries for free, urged its consumers to contact the company for additional information and to receive a free replacement battery.

Users can contact Lenovo at (800) 426-7378 anytime, or log on to http://www.lenovo.com/batteryprogram to determine if the battery is part of the recall and to order a replacement battery.

Meanwhile, the maker of recalled nine-cell batteries defended its product Friday, saying the problems resulted from a strong external impact to the battery and were not stimulated by the batteries "themselves."

"While the pack fully satisfied specifications and internal testing standards, these incidents occurred due to a strong external impact to the battery pack of a specific notebook PC model from a certain angle," Sanyo said in a statement. “The incidents were not triggered by the battery cells themselves."

However, the Japanese manufacturer said it was supporting Lenovo's recall financially and has already taken toward "working together with Lenovo and putting the first priority on consumer safety."

The advisory was made with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is charged with protecting the people from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction.