Toshiba announced on Thursday that it would recall about 10000 problematic laptop computer batteries in Japan and other countries because these Sony-made batteries are likely to cause fire as a result of over heating.

A spokesperson from Toshiba says that from September 2006 to June 2007, the battery made by Sony caused three fire accidents, including two in Japan and one in Australia. The batteries to be recalled this time reportedly are a different type from those called back last year.

Toshiba's investigation shows that about 5100 batteries made by Sony on December 3, 2005 have problems and these batteries are being sold in the U.S., Europe, Australia and China.

Since August last year, Sony's battery has been frequently recalled. On August 14, 2006, Dell announced a recall of 410 problematic batteries and said they were made by Sony. Later Toshiba, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Apple, IBM and Lenovo each began to issue an order to recall Sony's batteries.