HP Recalls Laptop Batteries

Certain Hewlett-Packard lithium-ion notebook batteries are being recalled, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced, after two reports of overheated batteries resulting in fires that caused minor property damage, though no injuries.

Roughly 70,000 of the batteries were sold at computer and electronics stores, hp.com and hpshopping.com from August 2007 through March 2008 for between $500 (£329) and $3,000; battery packs were sold separately for $100 to $160.

The recalled batteries are used with the following HP and Compaq notebooks:

HP Pavilion:
dv2000, dv2500, dv2700, dv6000, dv6500, dv6700, dv9000, dv9500, dv9700
Resource Library:

Compaq Presario:
A900, C700, F700, V3000, V3500, V3700, V6000, V6500, V6700

HP:
G6000, G7000

HP Compaq:
6720s

Notebook model numbers can be found on the white service label on each battery, below the bar code. Batteries that may be subject to recall, according to the CPSC, will have one of the following bar code labels (the • symbol is a placeholder for other numbers or letters):

62940••AXV••••

65033••B7U••••
65033••B7V••••
65033••BGU••••

65035••B7U••••
65035••B7V••••

65035••BGU••••
65035••BGV••••

67059••V8U••••
67059••V8V••••

The batteries should be removed from notebooks, and users are being instructed to contact HP for a free replacement battery. HP’s recall hotline is (800) 889-2031 and the CPSC’s recall hotline is (800) 638-2772. HP’s Battery Replacement Program can also be contacted through its Website, here.

In a letter to customers on the HP Web site, the company says it is participating in the voluntary recall as part of its commitment to quality and service. “We are proactively notifying you of this issue and are prepared to replace all verified, affected battery packs,” the letter states.