Tokyo (PTI): Sony Corp. on Friday announced that five leading personal computer makers would recall about one lakh of its lithium ion batteries due to 40 incidents of "overheating" concerns.

The five PC makers are Hewlett-Packard Development Co. and Dell Inc. of the United States, Toshiba Corp. of Japan, China's Lenovo Group Ltd. and Acer Inc. of Taiwan, Sony said.

The Japanese electronics giant said 40 incidents of overheating, including some causing smoke or flame, have been reported overseas involving notebook computers using its 2.15Ah lithium ion cells.

Of the 40, four led to minor burn injuries and 21 caused minor property damage, Sony was quoted as saying by Kyodo news agency.

The batteries subject to the recall are those made from October 2004 to June 2005, and production line adjustments made during the period may be the cause of the overheating, Sony said. The batteries subject to the worldwide recall include about 2,000 packs sold in Japan.

The recall announcement was made over three years after the first incident regarding the batteries was reported.

According to Sony, the first incident was reported in June 2005. Although problems were repeatedly reported thereafter, Sony and PC makers did not recall the batteries given the low incidence rate.

But since March this year, reports of the problem increased and as the cause of the problem was largely specified, the recall was decided.

Sony's lithium ion batteries subject to the latest recall is different from those covered by the massive recalls implemented by various PC makers in 2006, the firm said.

Last month, Sony said it will recall about 440,000 VAIO laptop computers for free repairs also due to overheating concerns.