SONY : More problems with SONY batteries...

Tech-On, website from the Nikkei group in Japan, said that another SONY battery would have caught fire in a Toshiba computer back in April 2007...old news you might say...but no, because that battery was coming from a new batch supposed to replace the ones which already had this problem...



On May 10, 2007, Toshiba Corp. reported that a battery module embedded with its notebook PC caught a fire on April 24, 2007. The battery module in question is a product manufactured by Sony Corp. The battery pack that caused the fire this time was included in the targets of Toshiba's "voluntary replacement program" implemented since 2006 that offers free replacement of Sony's battery modules used in Toshiba's certain notebook PCs.
Sony's battery modules caused a number of malfunctions including fires in other manufacturers' notebook PCs as well in 2006 and Sony has jointly conducted the voluntary replacement program with partner manufacturers. Toshiba, however, explained, "After investigating the cause of the accident with Sony, we have judged it is an accidental problem caused by the battery module itself," and "We are told Sony has confirmed this accident was not caused by the same problem discovered in its modules that caused malfunctions in other companies' products." Toshiba's notebook PCs differ from other companies' in terms of system design and protection system and therefore the system design issue identified by Sony in the overheating incidents in other companies' laptop PCs is not present in Toshiba's, according to the company.
Toshiba said possibility that similar accidents take place in the future is extremely low, yet calls for target products purchasers' participation in the voluntary replacement program for safety.