HP Recalls 162,000 More Laptop Batteries

HP recently announced an expansion of their worldwide recall of about 162,000 laptop batteries to prevent battery bursts, property damage and potential fire/smoke hazards. This recall is in addition to 54,000 and 70,000 units previously recalled in May of both 2009 and 2010. The company is specifically looking for those batteries with certain battery bar codes (show here).

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission issued its own announcement the day after HP’s, citing 40 reports of overheated and ruptured batteries, resulting in seven burn injuries, one case of smoke inhalation and 36 instances of property damage.

HP and its battery manufacturers believe that a specific string of battery packs produced between July 2007 and May 2008 contain a defect that can cause batteries to overheat and rupture, posing a fire and burn hazard, according to the HP press release. Approximately 5 percent of the notebooks PCs built during that time frame are affected.

The company recommends that HP, HP Pavilion, HP Compaq, and Compaq Presario owners immediately remove their batteries, check the bar code serial numbers with those listed here, and, if affected, to contact HP through its battery replacement program. Users can plug their laptops in with AC adapters while their batteries are being processed.