Gateway has joined a slew of other computer makers in issuing recalls of lithium ion notebook batteries made by Sony, as Sony and Toshiba increased their own numbers of recalled battery packs Tuesday.

Gateway, based in Irvine, California, said Monday it would recall approximately 35,000 lithium ion batteries containing battery cells manufactured by Sony Energy Devices.

“Under very rare circumstances, these batteries can overheat and create a potential fire hazard,” said Gateway in a statement.

The company said it had not identified any failures of this type in Gateway systems using the recalled batteries but was cooperating with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Sony in the interest of consumer safety.

The Gateway notebooks began shipping in September 2005, mainly through Gateway’s direct and professional channel, and to a lesser extent through retail stores. The models affected are the Gateway CX200, CX210, E100M, M250, M255, M280, M285, M465, M685, MP8708, NX260, NX510, NX560, NX860, NX100, MX1025, MX6918b and MX1020j.

Gateway has set up a section on its web site where customers can learn more about the recall, and instructions on returning the battery, or they can call customer service at (800) 292-6813.

Voluntary Recall

“It’s a voluntary battery exchange program that we did in cooperation with Sony and the [U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission],” said Lisa Emard, Gateway’s director of media relations. “We’re just taking proactive measures in the interest of customer safety.”

She insisted that Gateway has experienced little trouble with the batteries, but that there was always the possibility of a problem.

“Essentially our success rate with lithium ion batteries is well over 99.99 percent,” said Ms. Emard. “They occasionally fail and can fail in that manner. No maker or model is immune, so it’s something we watch closely all the time.”

She noted that Gateway’s recall only came in response to Sony and the USCPSC expanding the recall Monday.

“We’re not jumping into the recall that Sony made in August,” said Ms. Emard. “Sony expanded the recall to include some new battery models and at that point it affected Gateway.”

She said that Gateway had no plans at this point for expanding battery recalls for its notebooks in the near future, as some other computer makers have done, but acknowledged the possibility.

“It’s a tough position,” she said. “No company can guarantee what will happen in the future, but we don’t have any imminent plans for another battery recall.”

The Gateway recall primarily affects notebooks sold in the United States.

Didn’t Bow Low Enough

Tokyo-based Sony said Tuesday it would increase the number of recalled batteries from its own Vaio laptops to 340,000, adding another 250,000 to the 90,000 it recalled last week (see Sony Recalls 90K Laptop Batteries).

However, Sony said that despite the recalls, which may reach up to 9.6 million batteries, it has no plans to get out of the notebook battery business.

“The battery operation is a very important business for us,” Sony Executive Deputy President Yutaka Nakagawa said at a news conference in Tokyo, according to Reuters. “We have no intention of quitting it or scaling it back.”

Mr. Nakagawa apologized for the massive recall. “We would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the worries,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

But some observers did not believe that the slight bow he made showed the proper degree of contrition for a Japanese executive facing such a problem.

Meanwhile, Toshiba said Tuesday it has increased its number of recalled batteries to 870,000, or 30,000 more than Toshiba’s previous estimate of 840,000 (see Sharp, Fujitsu Recall Batteries).

Other computer makers recalling Sony-made notebook batteries include Apple Computer, Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, IBM, Lenovo, and Sharp.

Contact the writer:MCohn@RedHerring.com

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