Sony Corp. recalled about 250,000 batteries used in its Vaio notebook computers worldwide Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2006 after it previously replaced 90,000 batteries in Japan and China on Oct. 17.
BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhuanet) —— Sony Corp. recalled about 250,000 batteries used in its Vaio notebook computers worldwide Tuesday after it previously replaced 90,000 batteries in Japan and China on Oct. 17.
It estimates that the replacement program will cost around 51 billion yen (229 million U.S. dollars) for about 9.6 million batteries worldwide.
"Sony initiated this replacement program as a measure of its commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction and alleviating any consumer concern," said the company in a statement on its website detailing the Vaio battery recall.
The battery recall combined with its troubles in shipping its hardware out on time means that Sony has cut its full-year operating profit prediction by a massive 62 percent.
These batteries include not only its own laptop PCs but also in computers made by other PC makers including Toshiba Corp. the world's third-largest notebook PC maker. Toshiba announced Tuesday it now expects to recall 870,000 laptop computer batteries.
The only major holdout of the big computer manufacturers is HP, which has yet to initiate a recall. Even Gateway has been drawn in, recalling 34,000 batteries in 18 different notebook models, but the company said that it had not heard of any evidence that batteries in its computers have had any problems.
Although experiencing a big loss in profit, Sony said it has no plan to withdraw from the battery business. "The battery operation is a very important business for us. We have no intention of quitting it or scaling it down," said Yutaka Nakagawa, Sony Executive Deputy President.
Sony officials said Tuesday that only one overheating problem was confirmed among 3.5 million batteries, and they further pointed out the short-circuiting happens only very rarely and only in certain ways that the battery is connected in a system with laptop models, or if the laptop is used improperly and gets bumped around.
They said the batteries are safe and the replacement program is for putting consumer worries at rest.
Naofumi Hara, a Sony spokesman said, "This is not a safety issue. This is about addressing a people's concerns which have become a social problem, and we made the managerial decision that the recall was necessary."
BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhuanet) —— Sony Corp. recalled about 250,000 batteries used in its Vaio notebook computers worldwide Tuesday after it previously replaced 90,000 batteries in Japan and China on Oct. 17.
It estimates that the replacement program will cost around 51 billion yen (229 million U.S. dollars) for about 9.6 million batteries worldwide.
"Sony initiated this replacement program as a measure of its commitment to ensuring customer satisfaction and alleviating any consumer concern," said the company in a statement on its website detailing the Vaio battery recall.
The battery recall combined with its troubles in shipping its hardware out on time means that Sony has cut its full-year operating profit prediction by a massive 62 percent.
These batteries include not only its own laptop PCs but also in computers made by other PC makers including Toshiba Corp. the world's third-largest notebook PC maker. Toshiba announced Tuesday it now expects to recall 870,000 laptop computer batteries.
The only major holdout of the big computer manufacturers is HP, which has yet to initiate a recall. Even Gateway has been drawn in, recalling 34,000 batteries in 18 different notebook models, but the company said that it had not heard of any evidence that batteries in its computers have had any problems.
Although experiencing a big loss in profit, Sony said it has no plan to withdraw from the battery business. "The battery operation is a very important business for us. We have no intention of quitting it or scaling it down," said Yutaka Nakagawa, Sony Executive Deputy President.
Sony officials said Tuesday that only one overheating problem was confirmed among 3.5 million batteries, and they further pointed out the short-circuiting happens only very rarely and only in certain ways that the battery is connected in a system with laptop models, or if the laptop is used improperly and gets bumped around.
They said the batteries are safe and the replacement program is for putting consumer worries at rest.
Naofumi Hara, a Sony spokesman said, "This is not a safety issue. This is about addressing a people's concerns which have become a social problem, and we made the managerial decision that the recall was necessary."