Brief: Fujitsu Switches Out Sony Batteries

Notebook maker Fujitsu Computer Systems said it is voluntarily replacing batteries in some of its laptops, joining a worldwide effort by Sony instituted after several other major PC makers were forced into recalls.

A spokeswoman for the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based U.S. unit of the company said the effort is voluntary.

"Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation is joining Sony Corporation's voluntary battery replacement program for certain battery packs that utilized Sony-manufactured lithium ion cells," the spokeswoman said. "At this time, there have been no instances of battery pack problems involving Fujitsu mobile products."

The spokeswoman did not specify a number of units involved in the battery exchange, but Reuters is reporting the number is 287,000.

Sony last week said it was instituting a voluntary, worldwide exchange program with notebook vendors it supplied with potentially faulty or dangerous battery packs. To date, Dell, Round Rock, Tex., has announced it is recalling 4.2 million batteries; Apple, Cupertino, Calif., has announced it is recalling 1.8 million batteries; Toshiba is exchanging more than 800,000 batteries; and Lenovo, Raleigh, N.C., and IBM, Armonk, N.Y., have announced they are recalling 526,000 batteries from certain ThinkPads.