Sony set for mass battery recall of its own

Sony is planning to announce a massive battery recall of its own, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

The recall, expected this month, will encompass all possibly defective batteries, including those previously announced by manufacturers for specific laptop computers, said Julie Vallese, director of the Office of Public Affairs at the CPSC. But it is not expected to extend to batteries for devices other than laptops.

Sony makes lithium ion batteries for an array of electronics devices, including camcorders, portable DVD players and video game consoles. Contrary to a blog of Consumer Reports, which first reported the potential recall, though, only laptop batteries are currently covered, according to the CPSC and Sony, which would jointly conduct the recall.

Referring to Sony's official statement released on Thursday concerning a global replacement programme for laptop battery packs, a Sony spokesman said: "Sony has provided a wealth of technical data to the CPSC involving this tech, and it is omnipresent in a host of portable electronic devices but as far as we know, from Sony's perspective, there is no initiative planned at this time that goes beyond what has already been communicated with respect to notebook computers."

The CPSC is trying to contact Consumer Reports for a correction about a recall extension to other electronics devices, Vallese said.

She said: "I think that the real way to look at it is that Sony is working with the CPSC to identify the widest scope of batteries that it may recall. Any recall that the agency will make will be limited to batteries that power notebook computers. We have no anticipation at this time beyond that.

"Sony and the CPSC are currently working together to identify what will be in the recall, the time frame of what was manufactured and sold. We will be trying to issue that as soon as possible."

Richard Shim, a senior analyst with IDC, said: "The big issue is that while there is a small financial impact [to Sony as a company] compared to the perception impact, you have a number of significant brands that the consumer knows very well who were also involved in the recalls. They have basically pointed the problem at Sony by saying they have a poorly manufactured component.

"Sony is going to have to rebuild not just with consumers but with manufacturers."

Previous laptop battery recalls were issued by Apple and Dell in August for specific laptop models containing Sony batteries, after it was discovered that some batteries were overheating or exploding, causing fires even when the machines were turned off.

Candace Lombardi writes for CNET News.com