HP Recalls 54,000 Lithium Ion Laptop Batteries

Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest producer of PCs, is recalling an additional 54,000 lithium ion batteries used in laptops after reports surfaced that the batteries are prone to overheating and can catch fire.

HP, along with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, issued the additional recall on 21 May. The recall involves several models from HP’s Compaq and Compaq Presario lines as well as its Pavilion notebooks.

Both HP and the CPSC are recommending that customers who own these laptops remove the battery immediately and contact HP for a replacement pack. HP is replacing the batteries for free.

HP has established a Website for customers to contact: www.hp.com/support/BatteryReplacement. US customers can also call 1-888-202-4320. Additional information and a full list of the notebook and battery serial numbers can be found on the CPSC Website.

Recalling Lithium Ion Batteries

In May 2009, HP first began recalling lithium ion battery backs due to overheating and fire concerns. At the time, HP recalled about 70,000 battery packs. Since the first recall, HP has found 38 additional incidents involving overheating and fires.

At least 11 people reported suffering “minor personal” injuries and the CPSC found 31 different instances of property damage due to batteries overheating and fires.
For a look at HP’s latest business laptops, click here.

HP sold the laptops and the batteries between August 2007 and July 2008 through its Website as well as through several nationwide retail stores. The HP laptops cost between $500 and $3,000 (£2071), while the batteries, which were sold separately, cost between $100 and $150.

Batteries From China

All the batteries were manufactured in China, but HP did not say which company produced the batteries that it used in the notebooks.

The following is a list of the HP laptops and the batteries, with barcodes, that are being recalled:
•    The HP Pavilion series: dv2000, dv2500, dv2700, dv6000, dv6500, dv6700, dx6000, dx6500, dx6700, dv9000, dv9500 and dv9700.The batteries include ones with the following bar codes (the symbols are a placeholder for other letters and numbers): 62940^^AVX^^^^, 65035^^B7U^^^^, 65035^^B7V^^^^, 65035^^BGU^^^^, 65035^^BGV^^^^, 65033^^B7U^^^^, 65033^^B7V, 65033^^BGU^^^^.
•    The HP Compaq Presario series: A900, C700. F500, F700, V3000, V3500, V3700, V6000, V6500, V6700. The batteries include: 62940^^AVX^^^^, 65035^^B7U^^^^, 65035^^B7V^^^^, 65035^^BGU^^^^, 65035^^BGV^^^^.
•    The HP G6000 and G7000 series. The batteries include: 62940^^AVX^^^^, 65035^^B7U^^^^, 65035^^B7V^^^^, 65035^^BGU^^^^, 65035^^BGV^^^^.

•    The HP Compaq series: 6510b, 6515b, 6710b, 6710s, 6715b, 6715s, 6720s. The batteries include: 65000^^B5V^^^^, 67059^^V8U^^^^, 67059^^V8V^^^^.

While the 2009 and 2010 HP battery pack recalls involve about 100,000 lithium ion batteries, the number is small in comparison with 2006, when Sony recalled millions of its lithium ion batteries after several reports of fires.