Toshiba to recall 340,000 Sony laptop batteries

While the latest battery problem causes the laptops to sometimes run out of power, no injuries or other accidents have been reported, Toshiba Corp. spokesman Keisuke Omori said Tuesday. She declined to provide the number of reported problems.

The defect is not directly related to the problem behind last month's recall of Sony batteries by Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc., which cited concerns that the batteries could overheat and catch fire.

Dell asked customers to return 4.1 million faulty laptop batteries, while Apple recalled 1.8 million batteries worldwide.

In both those cases, the troubled lithium-ion batteries were made by Sony Energy Devices Corp., a Japan-based subsidiary of Sony Corp.

Tuesday's recall affects 100,000 laptop batteries in the U.S., 45,000 in Japan, and the rest in other parts of the world, Omori said.