Lenovo Investigates Sony Battery-run Laptop Fire

Posted 25 September 2006 @ 11:49 am EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

TOKYO (Reuters) - Lenovo Group Ltd.(0992.HK), the world's third-largest personal computer maker, said on Monday it is looking into a fire incident on a Lenovo laptop PC equipped with a Sony Corp. (6758.T) battery.

A Lenovo ThinkPad T43 notebook computer overheated and began smoking and sparking on September 16 at Los Angeles International Airport, but no one was injured, a Lenovo spokesman in Tokyo said. It was not yet clear what caused the malfunction.

The incident came after Dell Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. last month recalled almost 6 million Sony-made batteries, saying they could produce smoke and catch fire.

The Lenovo notebook PC that caught fire was using the same type of Sony battery that was a target of Dell and Apple Computer recalls, the Lenovo spokesman said.

A Sony spokesman said the company is cooperating with Lenovo in investigating the cause of the incident, but added that Sony has not determined that the laptop in question was loaded with a Sony battery.Shares in Sony were down 1.1 percent at 4,720 yen in afternoon trade, roughly in line with the Tokyo stock market's electrical machinery index.