Hitachi Recalls 16,000 Sony Batteries

Japanese electronics maker Hitachi said Friday that it would recall 16,000 Sony-produced laptop batteries, becoming the seventh company do so over the past month. The batteries are found in laptops sold to businesses mainly in Japan, and talks are underway to see who will be responsible for paying for the cost of the recall. Either way, the number of defective batteries is small enough that it likely would not have a large financial impact on either company.

Worldwide, well over 7 million Sony batteries have been recalled, and the company expects the problem to cost in excess of $250 million. In all cases, the batteries are said to overheat and pose a possible fire risk, although Sony contends that the actual occurrence of fire is extremely rare.