Fujitsu Recalls 287,000 Sony-made Batteries

Fujitsu has announced plans to recall 287,000 Sony-made batteries in its laptop computers, bringing the number of recalled Sony-made batteries to over 7.5 million.

After announcing last week that it would participate in Sony’s global battery replacement program for notebook batteries, Japan’s Fujitsu announced today that was recalling 287,000 Sony-made made batteries used in the company’s notebook computers. Combined with recalls from Dell, Apple, Toshiba, and Lenovo, the number of recalled Sony-made notebook batteries has climbed to over 7.5 million.

The batter recall is another blow to electronics giant Sony, which has suffered a series of technical and public relations blows this year, including repeated delays on its forthcoming Playstation 3 gaming console, a format war between Sony-backed Blu-Ray and HD DVD next-generation DVD disks, a legal and privacy furor over copy protection software clandestinely included in Sony BMG music CDs. Sony’s share price has declined more than 10 percent since the laptop battery problem emerged in August 2006.

Outside Japan, Fujitsu’s recall impacts the following models:

• Lifebook P1510, P1510D, P7120, P7120D
• Lifebook S7020, S7020D, S7025, S7025D
• Lifebook C1320, C1320D

The recall also impacts the following models sold in Japan:

• FMV-BIBLO LOOX P70R, P70S
• FMV-BIBLO LOOX T50M, T50R, T50RN, T50S, T50SN
• FMV-BIBLO LOOX T70M, T70M/T, T70MN, T70R, T70R/T, T70RN, T70S, T70S/V, T70SN
• FMV-P8210

Fujitsu is expected to make more detailed information about the recall available to customers and dealers; in the meantime, users with impacted models might be well-advised to remove the batteries and power the notebooks using AC power or other means until the recalled batteries have been replaced (or, potentially, that users can confirm their particular batteries are not subject to recall).