By Ed Silverstein TMCnet Contributor
Hewlett-Packard (News – Alert) has expanded its voluntary recall of computer batteries in HP and Compaq notebooks to include another 54,000 of the lithium-ion batteries.
Last year, HP recalled 70,000 of the lithium-ion batteries after it was determined that the batteries can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Since the 2009 recall, HP has received 38 additional reports of batteries that overheated and ruptured resulting in 11 instances of minor personal injury and 31 instances of minor property damage, according to the commission.
The recalled lithium-ion rechargeable batteries are used with various model series of HP and Compaq notebook computers. The computer model number is located at the top of the service label on the bottom of the notebook computer. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has posted a list online of the bar codes of the batteries under recall. Not all batteries matching the bar codes are being recalled.
The batteries were sold at computer and electronics stores nationwide, hp.com and hpshopping.com from August 2007 through July 2008 for between $500 and $3,000. The battery packs were also sold separately for between $100 and $160. They were manufactured in China.
Consumers should immediately remove the batteries from their notebook computer and contact HP to determine if their battery is included in this recall, even if the battery was previously checked.
Consumers with recalled batteries will receive a free replacement battery.
After removing the recalled battery from their notebook computer, consumers may use the AC adapter to power the computer until a replacement battery arrives. HP recommends that only batteries obtained from HP or an HP authorized reseller be used with HP notebook PCs.
For additional information, visit the HP Battery Replacement Program website or call 888-202-4320 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. The commission has an online incident report that be filled in by consumers.
The previous recall of 70,000 batteries took place in May 2009.
HP saw its second-quarter profit grow 28 percent with increased global sales, as well as significant profits reported in its PC and server business.
Ed Silverstein is a contributing editor for TMCnet’s InfoTech Spotlight. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Erin Harrison
#comment-top
View the Original article