Toshiba Corp. said Tuesday a Sony battery pack that had yet to be replaced under a recall last year burst into flames last month in Britain, suggesting that not all laptop owners had replaced the defective batteries.
It was the third Toshiba laptop blaze suspected of being linked to the problem.
Sony Corp. announced a massive recall of laptop batteries last year after it was found they could overheat and catch fire. More than 10 million notebook batteries have been recalled, including those from other major computer makers such as Dell Inc., Lenovo Inc., Apple Inc. and Acer Inc.
Given the recent fires, Toshiba said it will step up efforts to reach all customers who own a laptop with the recalled lithium-ion battery pack.
Previous fires in Toshiba laptops suspected of being caused by the Sony battery were reported in Brazil in December 2006 and in Japan in April, according to Toshiba.
In the third case, the laptop burned a desk in the owner's office on May 24.
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