Toshiba recalls 340,000 Sony batteries

Not explosive, just running out of power.

Toshiba has become the third company in just over a month to issue a mass recall of Sony batteries.

However, the problem this time is not overheating and a danger of fire. The Toshiba Dynabook and Dynabook Satellite laptops have a problem with batteries losing all their power.

A Toshiba spokesman said that the recall would not affect the company's profits, but refused to reveal whether Sony was picking up the tab for the fault.

Toshiba Australia, which claims that the recall is not technically a recall,
said the affected battery packs were sold separately as accessories (optional battery packs) as well as part of certain notebook PCs manufactured between March and May 2006.

The company claims the potential pool of affected batteries is 1,000 across Australia and New Zealand.

Dell was forced to recall 4.1 million Sony batteries on 14 August, and Apple followed suit soon after with a recall of 1.8 million batteries.

On a smaller scale, Panasonic recalled 6,000 laptop batteries in Japan following fears of overheating.

Sony confirmed last month that it will lose up to a quarter of its profit this year as a result of the battery recalls.