Sony warns Vaio users of fire risk from defective batteries

Sony is issuing a warning to users of its Vaio Fit 11A, telling them to stop using the laptops because the batteries could overheat and catch fire.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the batteries made by Panasonic are found in nearly 26,000 Vaio computers. Sony has received three reports of batteries overheating, which caused partial burns to Vaio computers.

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“The first incident was in Japan on March 19, followed by similar incidents on March 30 in Hong Kong and April 8 in China,” the Journal reported, noting that Sony stopped selling the laptop at the beginning of this month.

Just 500 of the affected models were sold in the U.S.

In February, Sony announced it had decided to shed its Vaio personal computer brand as part of a major restructuring that included a spinoff of its TV business and layoffs of thousands of employees. It plans to sell Vaio to Japan Industrial Partners Inc., a Japanese investment fund.

The struggling Japanese company has been trying to regain its once stalwart status in the electronics world. The sale of Vaio is intended to help Sony better grow its mobile electronics business, which going forward will focus more on smartphones and tablets.

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