Sony Battery Recall Cost: $250 Million

Sony issued a statement late Thursday providing some more details about the battery recall affecting 5.9 million laptops shipped by both Dell and Apple. The company also said it is fully supporting the effort, which will cost sony between $171 million and $250 million. Sony does not anticipate any further recalls from other computer makers.

"The recall arises because, 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 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," Sony explained. The company says it has added new safeguards in the manufacturing process to eliminate this problem in the future.