Toshiba Corp. said on Thursday it has recalled more Sony Corp. laptop computer batteries due to fire risk, rekindling concerns over the safety of Sony-made batteries. Toshiba is replacing a total 10,000 battery packs after three of its laptop PCs using battery cells made on December 3, 2005 caught fire in the last 10 months. No one was hurt in the incidents. Only 5,100 units of the 10,000 packs are potentially defective, but Toshiba is recalling double the amount to make sure all the battery packs containing targeted battery cells are exchanged.
Sony last year recalled 9.6 million PC batteries as they could catch fire from overheating in rare occasions, costing Sony 51 billion yen ($418 million).