Toshiba recalls batteries due to fire risk

Daily Newsletters

Sign up to ZDNet UK's daily newsletter.

NEWS

Computer manufacturer Toshiba has apparently become the latest vendor to recall laptop batteries because of concerns they may overheat.

According to reports on Friday morning, Toshiba is recalling 830,000 laptop batteries. As with previous recalls by Apple, Dell and most recently Lenovo, Toshiba's battery packs use lithium ion cells made by Sony.

Toshiba representatives in the UK did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but according to the Associated Press the recall involves its Dynabook, Qosmio, Satellite Portege and Tecra models. Toshiba hasn't yet revealed exactly which shipment dates are involved.

Toshiba recalled 340,000 batteries earlier this month, but that was due to a fault with storing and transmitting power.

The series of battery recalls is turning into a serious problem for Sony. It began in mid-August when Dell announced it was recalling 4.1 million laptop batteries following several reports of them catching fire. The problem appears to be caused by impurities within the anode and cathode of the battery cell, which can allow it to discharge its stored power extremely quickly. This could result in the laptop overheating or even catching fire.

As well as damaging its image, the debacle is hitting Sony in the pocket. It is already covering some of the costs of Dell's recall, which will run to hundreds of millions of pounds.

On Thursday, Sony announced that it is setting up its own battery recall programme, under which affected battery packs will be replaced.

Talkback

According to what I understood, there is no fire risk in toshiba batteries.

via Facebook 3 October, 2006 15:02
Reply

This post has been removed by a moderator.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

  • Login

Will not be displayed with your comment

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Phil at Cloud4

I agree: Mike Lynch can clearly build a business and manage strategy. I suspect the exit of Mike is more likely the end of a planned handover...

3 hours ago by Phil at Cloud4 on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves
Phil at Cloud4

This is unbeleivable government wastage with only one winner... Microsoft 1 - Tax payer Nil!

3 hours ago by Phil at Cloud4 on 6 million wasted licences and £1,200 PCs: welcome to government IT
Mispam

So what do you do when you can't boot into windows? Why can't I just hold Shift while I power up instead of having to boot into windows and click a...

4 hours ago by Mispam on Windows 8 start-up speed forces USB boot workaround
apexwm

I've also seen that Mac OS X for Intel machines is supposed to run in VirtualBox, which would also be a nice solution. I've never tried it though.

5 hours ago by apexwm on xTreme Triple Booting: Linux, Mac & Windows
dave heasman

What I wonder is why when companies are caught bang to rights in not providing contracted services, people bend over to smear the customers? Surely...

6 hours ago by dave heasman on Virgin throttles broadband for high-speed customers
pjc158

Strange statement from HP regarding Mike Lynch and not capable of scaling a company. Autonomy was a $7bn purchase which started as a small company...

6 hours ago by pjc158 on HP cuts 27,000 staff as Autonomy chief Lynch leaves
lojolondon

Or - possibly, they will destroy business by ensuring people do not invest where there is no return. Another socialist idea, well beyond it's...

9 hours ago by lojolondon on Open Data Institute will act as biz incubator
J.A. Watson

Good stuff Jake, very interesting. Thanks. jw

10 hours ago by J.A. Watson on xTreme Triple Booting: Linux, Mac & Windows
openhgs

"the cost of a second LCD screen is about the same as one day of an office worker's time, so this should soon be recouped in extra productivity."...

11 hours ago by openhgs on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
Thomas Gellhaus

I also installed the KDE version; I also will probably try out razorqt since I really haven't had a chance to before. I'm looking forward to the...

21 hours ago by Thomas Gellhaus via Facebook on Mageia 2 Released
francisabigail

Acquiring when reinvention/cannibalization is too challenging for a large organization can be an excellent strategy- still, so many mergers stumble...

24 hours ago by francisabigail on Ariba buy parks SAP on Oracle's cloud turf
apexwm

All of the feedback regarding using a touch monitor for a desktop PC is right on. Several months ago, we installed a "demo" multitouch all-in-one...

1 day ago by apexwm on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
191706

anyone wanting to triple boot *their* own Mac

1 day ago by 191706 on xTreme Triple Booting: Linux, Mac & Windows
SoapyTablet

Cont.. Biggest Bugbear: Win7's stop-animate-go approach to work, you develop a staggered (not in the above alchohol sense of the word) approach to...

1 day ago by SoapyTablet on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
SoapyTablet

Ah the joys of Windows 8 Consumer Preview... If Windows 7 was 'Vista with Lipstick', whats Windows 8? Vista with Lipstick, the morning after?...

1 day ago by SoapyTablet on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
daveveej

Though the metro look is quite cool on the windows mobile platform I think that think that microsoft ARE MESSING THINGS UP because what has they...

1 day ago by daveveej on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
Custonian

I agree, we have a few touch screen monitors in work but as Windows7 and the applications we use are not touch screen friendly (the size of the...

1 day ago by Custonian on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
archerthom

I find it amusing that Microsoft added the mouse, which was deemed awkward, but people were forced to use it so it stuck, and now they're saying,...

1 day ago by archerthom on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
BrownieBoy

Agree with other comments. Nobody's going to start reaching out to start tapping their desktop monitors with their fingers. Their arms would tire...

2 days ago by BrownieBoy on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake
Random_Error

The only way a touch monitor would be any good is if it were horizontal on the desk, with a virtual keyboard so you could do away with that as well...

2 days ago by Random_Error on Windows 8 could speed multi-monitor uptake