Sony will voluntarily recall about 680 Vaio Flip PC...
Sony will voluntarily recall about 680 Vaio Flip PC laptops because their lithium-ion batteries can overheat, “posing fire and burn hazards,” the Consumer Product Safety Commission said in a notice Tuesday. Ironically, the notice was posted on the very day,…
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July 1, when Sony’s exit from the Vaio business was scheduled for completion. Sony has said it would transfer the PC business to a new company, Vaio Corp., funded by Japan Industrial Partners, though Sony has said it will continue to service the PCs it has already sold. Sony is aware of four incidents, which occurred in Asia, of computers overheating, resulting in units smoking, catching fire and melting, the commission said. No injuries have been reported, it said. The products in question bear the model number SVF11N13CXS and were sold in silver, black and pink, it said. They were sold for about $800 each through Sony brick-and-mortar stores and at sony.com between February and April of this year, it said. They have a Panasonic-manufactured lithium-ion battery and a folding touch screen, it said. Asked why the recall targets the Vaio laptops and not the Panasonic batteries that are susceptible to overheating, a commission spokesman said it’s the agency’s policy to make the end-user product the target of a voluntary recall and not the components within. Sony didn’t immediately comment.