LG stops laptop sales after battery melts

BATTERY PROBLEM: In Jan, a battery produced by LG Chem for an LG Electronics laptop had exploded.

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Seoul: LG Electronics Inc on Friday said it has halted sales of a laptop computer model after a consumer reported that the battery inside one unit melted down.

LG affiliate LG Chem Ltd, the manufacturer of the battery, was investigating what happened, said Kim Jik-soo, a spokesman for LG Electronics. Kim said such batteries are designed to dissolve as a safety feature to avoid a potential explosion.

The laptop is no longer produced and was sold only in South Korea, he said.

Kim said a graduate student was using the computer on Thursday when the battery melted. The student subsequently reported it to an LG service centre.

In January another battery produced by LG Chem and used in an LG Electronics laptop exploded. Earlier this month, LG Electronics said an independent investigation into that explosion showed the incident was caused by 'an external shock under an extremely high temperature'.

The investigation, which was conducted by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, also showed that such an explosion was impossible under normal conditions of use, LG said. The test did not reveal what initially caused the high temperature, it said.

LG Electronics' personal computer business, which includes laptops, accounted for 2.5 per cent of sales last year.