Consumer Scrutiny For All Sony Batteries

In the wake of Dell's massive recall, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says it's examining all batteries made by Sony for possible safety issues.

Monday, Dell Computer announced one of the largest consumer electronics product recalls in history, recalling some 4.1 million batteries made for it by Sony which shipped in the company’s laptop computers for over two years. Yesterday, officials at the Consumer Product Safety Commission said it is reviewing all Sony-made lithium ion batteries used in laptop computers, but is also examining batteries manufactured by Sony for use in a wide variety of electronic devices, including cameras, mobile phones, media players, and other portable devices for possible safety issues.

"We are looking at the complete scope of the batteries made by Sony to ensure that no other consumers are in harm’s way," U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission spokesman Scott Wolfson said to Reuters. "We recognize that the batteries manufactured by Sony are not unique to just the Dell notebook computers." The Consumer Product Safety Commission is encouraging customers to report defects problems with devices using lithium-ion battery cells.

No injuries have been reported as a result of the problems with batteries in Dell laptops, but Dell says it has received six reports of batteries overheating since December, 2006, in some cases leading to fire and damage to furniture and property.

In the meantime, analysts are pegging Sony’s cost of the Dell battery replacement at anywhere from $85 to $430 million, hurting the brand image and short-term revenue of the Japanese electronics giant.