Fire Risk Makes Panasonic Recall Laptop Battery Packs

More than 43,000 laptop battery packs have been recalled by Panasonic following three of the packs in Asia overheating and creating a fire. The company has also declared a separate recall in Europe as a safety precaution.

Two of the overheating incidents occurred in Japan in 2014 and the third was in Thailand in 2013. The fire-risk batteries were sold to Asia-based consumers with two types of laptops -- Panasonic's CF-S10 and CF-N10 series -- between April 2011 and October 2011.

The second recall involved battery packs sold with Panasonic's Toughbook CF-H2 tablets between June 2011 and May 2012. Panasonic issued the following statement: "Because of a manufacturing problem, these particular battery packs may overheat and, in rare instances, cause the notebook to ignite."

Panasonic claimed that no one had been hurt in any of the Japanese or Thai incidents. The Japanese electronics producer declared the company will replace the batteries free of charge.

The potential fire risk seems to have been caused by conductive materials getting stuck to the batteries' seals, causing them to smoke and catch light after repeated charges.

The Panasonic recall follows about six weeks after Sony recalled the company's Vaio Fit 11A laptops because their non-removable battery packs, which were also manufactured by Panasonic, could become a fire risk.

Panasonic is currently a primary supplier of an adapted laptop battery to power Tesla Motors Inc.'s electric vehicles and is in discussions with Tesla to help the car maker manufacture lithium batteries at Tesla's proposed multibillion-dollar "Gigafactory" lithium battery project.