Hitachi has asked for 16,000 Sony-made laptop batteries which may pose a fire risk to be returned for a free replacement, the Japanese computer company said today, the second notebook maker to launch such a recall this week.

Hitachi's announcement, reported by Reuters, follows a similar one from Fujitsu a few days ago. Fujitsu put the scale of its recall at 287,000 units, dwarfing Hitachi's just as its own is dwarfed by Dell's 4.2m-battery recall, announced in August this year.

Apple followed Dell, and since then, IBM, Lenovo and Toshiba have all announced battery recalls of their own. Acer has said it's in talks with Sony, but has yet to follow the other firms and start asking the public to send certain batteries back. ®