The recall of Sony laptop batteries continues to grow and get worse for the electronics giant, as their reputation and cash takes a big hit.

The latest company to recall its laptop batteries is Fujitsu and takes the total number of recalls up over 7.5m. While only 47 battery fires have been reported, despite the billions in service, the latest explosion saw a Lenovo Thinkpad expire in the middle of Los Angeles International Airport.

Those sorts of high profile failures will be doing Sony no good at all. The cash cost of the recall probably won't be that high, they'll consider themselves unlucky if 10% of the recalled batteries end up on their doorstep, but the damage to their reputation is only increasing the troubles for the firm.  The rootkit  fiasco, the loss making technology arm, exploding batteries and the widespread criticism of the PS3 leaves it in a very precarious position, if the PS3 doesn't sell we could well be seeing the death knell of the Japanese great.

The episode began with the recall of Dell and Apple batteries, produced by Sony, following a series of incidents where laptops seemingly exploded in to flames, one such spontaneous combustion was caught on camera. Virgin, Quantas and Korean Air banned Apple and Dell laptops from use onboard their flights with Virign only recently easing the ban and introducing a battery check by flight attendants.

Exploding Laptop Singes Eyebrows

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