Acer announced on Wednesday a voluntary recall of approximately 27,000 rechargeable lithium ion batteries containing battery cells manufactured by Sony Energy Devices Corp. The PC maker said that under certain conditions, the batteries may overheat and create a potential fire hazard.

Recently, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Sony said that there have been 16 reports of notebook batteries overheating. The reports were associated with earlier recalls by other notebook computer manufacturers of batteries containing Sony’s cells.

While none of these reports involved batteries in Acer notebook computers, the company said that it is cooperating with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Sony to act in the interest of customer safety.

Acer notebook PCs with the affected batteries were sold from May 2004 through November 2006. The notebook PCs were primarily sold through authorized Acer’s distributors and electronic retailers nationwide.

“Acer will replace affected batteries at no cost to the customer. In the meantime, customers may continue to use their notebook PCs by turning off the system, removing the battery, and powering the system via AC adapter and power cord, until the replacement battery is received.” the PC maker said.

The list of notebooks with affected lithium-ion batteries included in the recall:

-TravelMate Series Beginning with: 242x, 320x, 321x, 330x, 422x, 467x, 561x, C20x.
-Aspire Series Beginning with: 556x, 560x, 567x, 930x, 941x, 980x.

Acer also advised customers to stop using these recalled batteries immediately and contact Acer to receive a free replacement battery.

The company has also put-up a voluntary battery replacement program website for more detailed information and instructions about the recall, located at http://www.acerbatteryrecall.com/AcerWeb/.

Customers may also contact Acer toll-free at (800) 503-2330.