Replacement programme designed to address overheating 'concerns'

Sony has announced a global replacement programme for certain battery packs that incorporate its lithium ion cells.

The electronics giant said that the move is designed to address "concerns" related to recent overheating incidents.

The batteries are used in notebook computers and have been implicated in a number of incendiary incidents, most notably when a Dell laptop caught fire.

Sony is discussing its plans with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and will coordinate with other government authorities as required. The company has been supporting the recall of battery packs for Dell and Apple.

"As we have previously explained, 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 possibility of short circuit within the cell, " the company said.

"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.

"The potential for this to occur can be affected by variations in the system configurations found in different notebook computers."