Toshiba to replace 340,000 Sony-made batteries

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Portable computer maker Toshiba has ordered a recall of approximately 340,000 laptop computer batteries made by Sony, the latest in a string of Sony battery woes.

The batteries, used in Dynabook and Dynabook Satellite laptops manufactured between March and May this year, could fail on the road because of problems with storing and transmitting power, Toshiba spokesman Keisuke Ohmori said.

Ohmori declined to estimate the cost of the move, saying it would not affect earnings, and would not say whether Toshiba was asking Sony to foot the bill.

Toshiba said that the faulty batteries would not cause fires and that battery failure would occur "only in rare cases," but that the battery could fail regardless of how carefully it is used.

Last month Dell and Apple Computer recalled almost 6 million Sony-made notebook PC batteries saying they could produce smoke and catch fire.

Toshiba shares fell 0.8 percent to 786 yen in morning trading, compared with a 0.53 percent gain in Tokyo's electrical machinery subindex. Sony shares were down 0.6 percent at 4,940 yen.

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