CPSC Announced 340,000 Battery Recall

A voluntary recall of 340,000 laptop batteries made by Sony was officially announced in the United States today. The latest-recalled lithium ion batteries containing Sony cells were used in Fujitsu’s, Gateway’s, Sony’s, and Toshiba’s notebook computers. These lithium ion batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published.

According to the CPSC’s press release, consumers should stop using the recalled batteries immediately unless otherwise instructed.

“Consumers should remove the affected batteries from notebook computers until they contact their computer manufacturer and receive further instructions. Batteries covered by this program will be replaced free of charge. Consumers should use only batteries obtained from their computer manufacturer or from an authorized reseller”, the press release says.

The affected batteries were sold with laptops or separately. The recalled batteries were sold in some of the following laptops:

Fujitsu LifeBook (sold from June 2005 through October 2006): P1510, P1510D, P7120, P7120D, S7020, S7020D, C1320D, Q2010, T4210

Gateway (sold from September 2005 through October 2006): CX200, CX210, E100M, M250, M255, M280, M285, M465, M685, MP8708, NX260, NX510, NX560, NX860, NX100, MX1025, MX6918b, and MX1020j

Sony VAIO (sold from December 2004 through October 2006): VGN-FE550G, VGN-FE570G, VGN-T240P, VGN-T250, VGN-T250P, VGN-T260P, VGN-T270P, VGN-T340P, VGN-T350, VGN-T350P, VGN-T360P, VGN-T370P

Toshiba (sold from September 2004 through October 2006):
- Portege: M300, M400/M405, S100/S105
- Qosmio: G35
- Satellite: R10/R15
- Tecra: A2, M3, M4, M5, M6, and S3

CPSC said customers should contact the manufacturer of their notebook computer to determine if their battery is covered by this program and to request a replacement battery.

Sony Recalls Notebook Computer Batteries Due to Previous Fires