Toshiba reenergizes Sony battery recall campaign

By Colleen Taylor, Contributing Editor -- Electronic News, 6/20/2007

After dragging on for nearly a year, Sony Corp.'s battery recall-related woes have picked up steam yet again. On Tuesday, Japan-based electronics giant Toshiba Corp. announced it was implementing further measures to encourage customers to participate in its wide-spread recall of Sony battery packs.

Toshiba said that its renewed commitment to publicizing the recall comes after an incident on May 24 when a Toshiba portable computer with a Sony battery pack caught fire. An investigation has confirmed that the cause of the fire was indeed the Sony battery pack, Toshiba said.  The company also reported that a "similar" incident involving an unreplaced battery pack occurred in April.

Since Sony launched an official recall and replacement program in October 2006, Toshiba has participated in the program along with a host of other companies including Dell, Lenovo and Apple. Toshiba is offering its customers free replacement of the defective battery packs.

"Despite Toshiba's continued efforts to promote participation in the replacement program, and although Sony recommended replacement, the PC still had the original battery pack," Toshiba lamented in a statement Tuesday.  

"Toshiba recognizes the importance of this situation and is determined to make every effort to assure the safety and comfort of its customers," the statement continued. "Accordingly, the company is now embarking on a new round of efforts to encourage customers to check their PCs and to get the battery replaced if it is on the list."