Toshiba recalls 340,000 faulty laptop batteries

Electronics giant Toshiba announced today it would replace about 340,000 laptop computer batteries worldwide, the third recall of faulty batteries made by Sony Corporation in less than 40 days.

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. Although the batteries would die "only in rare cases," that could happen regardless of how carefully they are used, Ohmori said.

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