Sony and three major PC makers are recalling 100,000 laptop batteries in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Lithium-Ion batteries used in about 35,000 Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell notebook computers -- as well as an additional 65,000 units sold worldwide -- are defective. Specifically, these Lithium-Ion batteries can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers.
As of Oct. 30, there have been 19 reports of the batteries overheating, including 17 reports of flames and fire. Ten of those battery failures resulted in minor property damage, and two consumers experienced minor burns.
“This is not a huge recall seeing as there were millions before from Sony’s last round,” said Roger Kay, principal analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates. “But we’ve already seen way more instances of flames and property damage than there was in the last big battery recall.”
Computers with the recalled batteries were sold directly the PC makers, through computer and electronics stores nationwide, and through various Web retailers for between $700 and $3,000. The batteries were also sold separately for between $100 and $160.
HP is recalling batteries that have a barcode label beginning with A0, L0, L1 or GC that were shipped with HP Pavilion dv1000, dv8000 and zd8000 models, Compaq Presario v2000 and v2400 machines and with HP Compaq nc6110, nc6120, nc6140, nc6220, nc6230,nx4800, nx4820, nx6110, nx6120 and nx9600 computers.
Dell is recalling battery model OU091 in its Latitude 110L and Inspirion 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150 and 5160 computers. Toshiba's recall includes about 3,000 Satellite A70/A75, P30/P5, M30X/M35X and M50/M55 laptops and Tecra A3, A5 and S2 computers.
(Source: NewsFactor)