More battery problems for Sony

PC Mag has posted a newsitem about further problems for Sony. Just when it seemed that they were putting the battery recall behind them, Acer announced on Wednesday it would be recalling close to 27,000 of its Sony-made lithium-ion laptop batteries.

As with the other companies that initiated recalls last year-including Dell, Lenovo, Apple, Toshiba, and others-Acer is warning that some faulty batteries in its laptops could overheat and cause a fire.

So far, more than 10 million notebook batteries have been recalled worldwide since Sony first announced the recall. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there remain dozens of reports of the company's lithium-ion batteries overheating, and in rare instances, causing injury.

Taiwan-based Acer said that while none of the known incidents involved its own laptop models, the company will still be working with the agency to conduct the voluntary recall. According to the company, the affected Acer models were sold in the U.S. and Canada from May 2004 through November 2006 for between $500 and $1,500.

The laptops possibly containing the recalled batteries were the TravelMate series with 4-digit model numbers beginning with 242, 320, 321, 330, 422, 467, 561, C20, and the Aspire series beginning with model numbers 556, 560, 567, 930, 941, 980, according to the company's recall page.

Acer, whose U.S. division is based in San Jose, says consumers should immediately stop using the recalled batteries and contact the company for a free battery replacement. The laptops can still be safely used if powered by the AC adapter, the company added.