By Philipp Gollner

SAN FRANCISCO: Lenovo Group Ltd. and IBM are recalling more than half a million notebook computer batteries made by Sony Corp. after a computer caught fire at the Los Angeles International Airport, Lenovo and U.S. safety officials said on Thursday.

Sony separately initiated a global replacement program for lithium-ion batteries it made for notebook PC companies, saying short circuits could occur on rare occasions when tiny metal particles come in contact with other parts of the batteries.

Lenovo and IBM's move to recall ThinkPad batteries brings the number of battery cells recalled to more than 6 million since Dell Inc. in August said it was recalling 4.1 million notebook batteries made by Sony.

Apple Computer Inc. on Aug. 25 announced a recall of 1.8 million lithium-ion batteries made by Sony.

Lenovo spokesman Ray Gorman said the company expects the financial impact of the recall to Lenovo and IBM to be "minimal" as Sony is "supporting us financially in this recall."

No injuries were reported in the Sept. 16 laptop fire in a passenger terminal of Los Angeles airport, safety officials said.

A passenger about to board an aircraft noticed smoke coming from his carry-on bag containing a Lenovo notebook and returned to the lounge. Smoke and sparks were doused with fire extinguishers, a Lenovo spokesman said.

Lenovo, the world's third-largest PC maker after Dell and Hewlett-Packard Co., bought International Business Machines Corp.'s PC division in May, 2005 and has continued to sell machines with IBM's ThinkPad brand.

The recall affects 168,500 battery packs sold in the United States and about 357,500 packs sold internationally, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said.