Japan’s Sony on Wednesday issued a warning to customers worldwide that a system glitch affecting more than half a million of its VAIO laptop computers may cause overheating and possible burns.

The electronics giant said a heat-monitoring chip in some of its VAIO F and C series models that were launched in January this year could be defective, leading to possible overheating, a company statement said.

Although the defect has not been known to cause personal injuries, the firm said it received a total of 39 complaints from overseas customers saying that the shape of their computers became distorted from overheating.

The glitch affects a total of 535,000 laptops worldwide, of which nearly half is in the United States and the remainder in Japan, Europe and China.

Sony said it is offering consumers a software application download with which to correct the malfunction.

The WallStreet Journal is reporting that Sony will be recalling more than 250,000 laptops in the U.S. alone, but we have not confirmed that yet.

UPDATE 6/30/2010: It appears that Sony is in fact recalling the laptops. Head over to Sony’s site and check your model and serial number to see if your laptop is affected.

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