By Stevie Smith Aug 13, 2007, 14:07 GMT
Already having laboured with one unwanted battery recall announcement in July, which saw some 10,000 faulty batteries called back from consumers, electronics giant Toshiba now finds itself squarely in the reliability spotlight again after issuing a second recall.
Specifically, Tokyo-based Toshiba Corporation has announced that the latest recall centres on batteries equipped within its Satellite A100, A105, and Tecra A7 notebook lines. Although Toshiba maintains that the estimated 1,400 affected notebooks equate to a comparatively small amount, the root source of the technical problem may send a shiver through certain corporate spines.
Indeed, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has intonated that Toshiba’s recalled lithium-ion notebook battery units all house faulty cells manufactured by Sony Corp. "Consumers should stop using the recalled batteries and contact Toshiba to receive a free replacement battery," the CPSC has advised with regard to this latest recall.
In 2006, various notebook vendors were struck by an enormous battery recall when close to 10 million faulty Sony-made cells were pulled from the market. Those previously affected included Acer, Apple, Dell, Fujitsu, IBM, Lenovo and Toshiba.
Toshiba’s inclusion in the mass battery recall of 2006 amounted to the company pulling around 1 million defective battery units. While the likes of Apple and Dell were hit with considerably more force, the re-emergence of flawed technology doesn’t bode well for Toshiba in terms of Sony completely rectifying the problems related to its battery cells.
The affected Satellite and Tecra notebooks were all produced between January and April of 2006, and the consumer agency is warning owners that equipped rechargeable battery units could well overheat to the point of becoming a potential fire hazard.
Concerned Satellite and Tecra users that think their model may be affected by Toshiba’s recall can take advantage of the company’s helpful BatteryCheck utility, which discerns whether a notebook’s battery is required for return and replacement.
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