THE reputation of Sony took another hit last night as two of the biggest domestic laptop PC makers joined a list of companies recalling products that contain batteries made by the Japanese electronics group.

The expected recalls by Fujitsu and Toshiba come after Sony’s own announcement on Thursday that it would launch a global recall of its lithium-ion batteries because of concerns that they might overheat and burst into flames. That move followed similar decisions by IBM, Dell, Apple and Lenovo.

The total of all the recalls so far amounts to nearly seven million units. Recently Sony estimated the cost of the Dell and Apple recalls at between $170 million and $255 million. With those figures now likely to rise further, the problem is on track to become Japan’s most expensive such electronics recall.

Sony maintains that the problems relate to the configuration of the laptop computers themselves and that the recall it ordered this week was undertaken voluntarily to set customers’ minds at ease.

However, analysts said that the damage caused to the Sony brand created by the saga of the faulty batteries would put enormous pressure on Sir Howard Stringer, the Sony president, to make a success of the other showcase electronics launches due this year. These include the Blu Ray Disc format for next-generation DVD playerss and the much-delayed Playstation 3 games console.

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