Panasonic suggested consumers check the model number of their laptops Panasonic is recalling more than 43,000 laptop battery packs after three of them overheated and caught fire. It said that two of the accidents occurred in Japan this year and the other was in Thailand in 2013. The batteries were sold to Asia-based consumers with two types of laptops - Panasonics CF-S10 and CF-N10 series - between April and October 2011. However, the company has also announced a separate recall in Europe as a safety precaution. This second callback involves an unspecified number of battery packs sold with its Toughbook CF-H2 tablets between June 2011 and May 2012. Because of a manufacturing problem, these particular battery packs may overheat and, in rare instances, cause the notebook to ignite, it said in a statement. Jan Kaempfer, a spokesman for Panasonic, told the BBC that the firm was not aware of any cases in which the tablets batteries had caught fire and that the move was simply a precautionary measure. Conductive materials Panasonic said that no-one had been hurt in any of the Japanese or Thai incidents. Panasonic is recalling batteries for one of its tablets in Europe as a safety precaution It added that it believed the problem might have been caused by conductive materials getting stuck to the batteries seals, causing them to smoke and catch light after repeated charges. The announcement comes about six weeks after Sony announced a recall of its Vaio Fit 11A laptops because their non-removable battery packs - also manufactured by Panasonic - posed a fire risk. However, Mr Kaempfer said that this was unrelated to the latest recall. Although Panasonic manufactures an adapted type of laptop battery to power Teslas electric cars, Mr Kaempfer stressed that the batteries involved in the two recalls were different from those used by the US carmaker. Panasonic reported its first annual profit in three years last month, thanks in part to growing demand for its vehicle batteries. The Japanese firm is not the only manufacturer to face such a problem in recent months. In March, Lenovo recalled 117,732 batteries for its ThinkPad laptops, while Summer Infant has had to recall about 800,000 batteries for its baby monitors after it received about two dozen reports of them overheating and smoking. Share this story About sharing Email Facebook Twitter More on this story General Motors recalls more cars over fire safety fears 21 May 2014 Panasonic reports first annual profit in three years 28 April 2014 BMW recalls 156,000 vehicles in US after bolt defect 11 April 2014 Overheating HP Chromebook 11 laptops taken off sale 14 November 2013 Matsushita in new battery recall 5 September 2006 Related Internet links Panasonic Sony Lenovo Summer Infant The BBC is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites More Technology stories Apple agrees to $3bn Beats deal 16 minutes ago Samsung reveals Sami health platform 3 hours ago Game stunt causes office evacuation 7 hours ago Features & Analysis Obituary: Maya Angelou The life and work of the American writer and poet Genericide When a brands size becomes its death sentence Obesogenic places Does living next to a chicken shop make you fat? Old Friends Remembering the much-loved sitcom a decade after it ended From Kabul to Calais The Afghans risking it all to reach Britain The real me My seven-year battle to prove I’m a politicians son 4:56 Mass exodus One woman recalls the day she said goodbye to Cuba for US Catrins story The girl who survived with 96% burns 3:38 Defending nature California fights poachers threatening ancient redwoods Most popular Read selected Watched Most read 1 Kerry urges Snowden to return to US 2 Leadership row peer quits Lib Dems 3 Call to resist e-cigarette controls 4 What is an obesogenic environment? 5 Apple agrees to $3bn Beats deal 6 Police did nothing to stop stoning 7 The silent brand killer 8 Teenagers arrested after body found 9 Angelou brightest light says Obama 10 Looking back at Friends Most watched Sections Explore the BBC News Sport Weather iPlayer TV Radio CBBC CBeebies WW1 Food History Learning Music Science Nature Local Travel News Full A-Z Desktop Site Terms of Use About the BBC Privacy Policy Cookies Accessibility Help Parental Guidance Contact the BBC BBC © 2014 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 23:59:00 +0000
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