According to reports, Dell has announced recall of around 4.1 million lithium-ion batteries used in its notebook PCs world-wide, as these can cause overheating of machines - even leading them to catch fire.

Confirming the recall, a spokesperson for Dell said that the same is applicable to batteries used in approximately 22 million Dell notebook PCs that shipped between April 1, 2004, and July 18, 2006.

The recalled battery packs form part of Dell notebook PCs including, the Latitude Series (D410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810 models); the Inspiron Series (6000, 8500, 8600, 9100, 9200, 9300, 500m, 510m, 600m, 6400, E1505, 700m, 710m, 9400, E1705 models); the XPS Series (Gen2, M170, M1710 models); and the Precision Series (M20, M60, M70, M90 mobile workstation NB models).

The spokesperson explained that the batteries could potentially overheat and stop working; or in some rare cases, could emit smoke or even flames. The spokesperson identified that six incidents of overheating batteries had already taken place in the US.

The spokesperson suggested that consumers continue to use affected Dell notebook PCs - but in a safe manner, by removing the affected batteries and instead using the AC adaptor and power cord to power the system.

Apparently, the affected Dell notebook PCs were sold in the range of $500 to $2,850 (inclusive of batteries), while individual batteries were sold between $60 and $180.

On its part, Dell has said the company has been made aware of the possibility of some batteries having been manufactured incorrectly. However, it maintains these batteries are only Dell-branded, but have been manufactured by Sony. Sony, which has acknowledged its role in the happenings, says that reports of some laptops burning are miniscule when compared to the millions of machines sold by Dell every year.

Aside of this, Dell has launched a Web site, www.dellbatteryprogram.com, to provide consumers with the list of affected models; as also to direct them on how to determine whether their notebook batteries are affected or not, and in the event the batteries are affected, on how to go about getting replacement batteries.

Reportedly, the Federal Consumer Product Safety Commission has pronounced the latest Dell recall to be the largest-ever in the history of consumer electronics.

Then again, this is not the first time Dell has recalled notebook batteries. In 2001, the company had recalled around 284,000 batteries; and again, in December 2005, the company recalled nearly 22,000 notebook PC batteries within the US.