Manufacturer Sanyo says it will split the cost of recalling over 200,000 of its laptop batteries with its vendor, Lenovo . There are no details as yet as to the precise details of the seemingly amicable agreement.
The cost of recalling the cells has drawn inevitable comparison with Sony's mass recalls last year for its batteries. That cost the company somewhere in the region of 51 billion yen - around £226 million. Lenovo itself withdrew half a million of those Sony batteries last September.
This latest recall was prompted by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission after about 100,000 of the affected packs were sold in the US.
"If the battery in the laptop is struck forcefully on the corner, such as from a direct fall to the ground, the battery pack can overheat and pose a fire hazard to users. This is not an internal battery cell defect," said the Commission in a statement.
Lenovo has received "four reports of batteries overheating and damaging the notebook", said the Commission. "This caused damage to the notebook, minor property damage and, in one case, minor eye irritation to one consumer."
On Friday we reported that Sanyo said there was not a problem with the "batteries themselves".
"While the pack fully satisfied specifications and internal testing standards, these incidents occurred due to a strong external impact to the battery pack of a specific notebook PC model from a certain angle," said Sanyo's statement.
Sanyo is also having issues with the Securities Exchange and Surveillance Commission (SESC) in Japan, which is investigating it. Sanyo is the world's biggest maker of lithium-ion batteries.
Lenovo shares dipped by four per cent in the wake of the recall.
The recalled 9-cell batteries have the part number FRU P/N 92P1131, which can be found on the battery label.
The packs were sold as optional and replacement packs, as well as being provided with some new Lenovo laptops.
Models affected:
- R60 and R60e Series
- T60 and T60p Series
- Z60m, Z61e, Z61m, and Z61p Series
If you have one of the affected models, visit www.lenovo.com/batteryprogram .
