Toshiba recalls Sony batteries

Battery woes for Sony continue as Toshiba becomes the third PC manufacturer within a month to recall defective batteries.

Toshiba is recalling 340,000 batteries used across its Dynabook and Satellite notebook range. However, it stressed that, unlike Dell and Apple, there is no fire risk.

The company said the faulty batteries, included in notebooks manufactured between March and May this year, had a problem recharging, storing and transmitting power.

It appears even if a battery appears fully charged it may fail in the middle of operation. The company said, however, it was only in rare circumstances that this happened, but it would offer its customers replacement batteries.

The company would not comment about the possibility that it would seek financial redress from Sony.

However, this latest recall by Toshiba brings the total Sony battery count to nearly five million following the 1.8 million recalled by Apple and the 4.1 million recalled by Dell in August.

Environmental organisation Greenpeace will be closely monitoring how these companies dispose of the batteries.