ROUND ROCK, Texas - Dell Inc., the world's largest personal computer maker,
said Friday that it is increasing the recall of Sony Corp. battery packs used in
its systems to 4.2 million units from 4.1 million units.
The batteries can short-circuit and have been blamed for causing some
computers in which they are used to overheat.
Separately, Toshiba Corp. said Friday that it is recalling 830,000 batteries
made by Sony for its laptops at Sony's request. It was the latest in a growing
global recall involving Sony batteries, bringing the tally of recalled batteries
to about 7 million worldwide.
Earlier Friday, Sony asked manufacturers using its problem batteries to carry
out a recall.
Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Omori said Toshiba's recall was in response to
Sony's request, and Toshiba had not found any cases in which the laptops were at
risk of catching fire.
"But we wanted to assure and satisfy our customers," he said.
Dell said Friday that the increase in its battery recall was made due to
additional information received about the affected battery packs containing
cells manufactured by Sony.
Dell and the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the agency's
largest-ever electronics recall on Aug. 15, blaming battery cells supplied by
Sony. During production in Japan, tiny shards of metal were left in the cells,
which can cause a short-circuit. The recall was issued after six confirmed
instances of overheating or fire involving Dell systems with batteries made by
Sony.
Dell said customers should recheck their batteries if they have not ordered
or received a replacement battery.
The company began shipping replacement batteries on Aug. 15.
On Thursday, IBM Corp. and Lenovo Group, the world's third-largest computer
maker, said they were seeking the recall of 526,000 rechargeable, lithium-ion
batteries from Sony purchased with ThinkPad computers after one of them caught
fire at Los Angeles International Airport this month.
Apple Computer Inc. has also recalled 1.8 million batteries worldwide,
warning they could catch fire.
