Sony laptop-battery recall grows and grows

Sony plans to recall 340,000 rechargeable lithium ion batteries that shipped with laptop computers in the US, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has announced.

Batteries that shipped with laptops sold by Fujitsu, Gateway, Sony and Toshiba comprise this recall, the CPSC said. Sony is expected to make its own official announcement today at a press conference in Japan, according to a CPSC statement. The worldwide tally of potentially defective batteries used in laptops made by these four PC makers is more than three million, the CPSC added.

The CPSC's decision to recall the batteries is based on 16 previous reports of laptop batteries overheating, causing minor property damage and two minor burns, the statement said. It cautions that there have been no reported incidents involving batteries sold by Fujitsu, Gateway, Sony or Toshiba.

In conjunction with Sony, the CPSC determined that the battery recall is limited to laptop computers and does not affect other electronic devices with batteries made by Sony, said Julie Vallese, the CPSC's director of information and public affairs.

The announcement put Gateway in the recall spotlight for the first time since reports first surfaced in August. Notified two weeks ago by Sony, Gateway decided to issue a voluntary recall of the batteries contained in 18 of its laptop models, said Lisa Emard, director of media relations for Gateway. "We have not seen any of the types of issues they've described in these batteries in our systems," she said.

Emard said the recall will affect approximately 34,000 Gateway laptop PCs in the US.

The commission said 40,000 Fujitsu, 85,000 Sony and 210,000 Toshiba laptops sold in the US are affected by the announcement.

Apple, Dell, Lenovo and Sharp have also issued massive recalls for the faulty batteries shipped with their laptops. In total, more than eight million Sony laptop batteries worldwide have been recalled.

Erica Ogg writes for CNET News.com