Battery meltdown halts LG laptop sales

updated 1:28 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2008

SEOUL, South Korea - LG Electronics Inc. halted sales of one of its laptop computer models after a report of a battery meltdown, the company said Friday.

LG affiliate LG Chem Ltd., the manufacturer of the battery, was investigating what happened, said Jik Soo Kim, a spokesman for LG Electronics. Kim said the 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 Thursday when the battery melted.

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, suggested that the explosion would not have been possible during normal usage. 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 percent of sales last year.

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