Sony laptop batteries recall to hit 9.6 million

TOKYO - Sony said Thursday that the number of laptop batteries to be recalled would total 9.6 million worldwide. Sony Corp.'s defective lithium ion battery packs have caused massive recalls, with nearly every major laptop computer maker to ask customers to return their batteries subject to replacement. It said that in the July-September period it will rack up an extra cost of 51 billion yen ($429 million) for recalls of lithium-ion batteries for laptops announced by practically every major laptop maker in the world. The estimated total of 9.6 million batteries include the latest recalls of 90,000 batteries in Vaio, Sony said.