Sony on Thursday announced that it will soon launch a global replacement program for owners of laptops that use their batteries. Currently, the company is working with Dell and Apple on their recalls of Sony-made laptop batteries, and it is now in discussions with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission about coordinating its own recall.
Sony explained in a press release: "On rare occasions, microscopic metal particles in the recalled battery cells may come into contact with other parts of the battery cell, leading to a possibility of short circuit within the cell. Typically, a battery pack will simply power off when a cell short circuit occurs.
"However, under certain rare conditions an internal short circuit may lead to cell overheating and potentially flames. The potential for this to occur can be affected by variations in the system configurations found in different notebook computers. Sony believes that this engineering analysis remains valid."
Details of the recall program will be announced "in the near future," Sony said.