HP recalls 78,500 more batteries for laptops due to fires

HP recalled 78,500 batteries used in its laptops and mobile workstations due to overheating issues that could lead to fire and burns.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced the recall on Tuesday, but noted that the extension of the recall had previously been independently announced by HP on Jan. 17 and had been delayed due to permission from the government. This is an extension of the previous HP Batteries Recall of January 2018, which involved 50,000 batteries. HP has received eight new reports of overheated, melted or carbonized batteries in the United States, including a minor injury claim and two pieces of property damage information totaling $ 1,100, the CPSC said.

Batteries were specifically sold in-house or as accessories to: ProBooks HP (64x G2 and G3 Series, 65x G2 and G3 Series, 4xx G4 Series), HPx360 (310 G2), HP Notebook Pavilion x360 11-inch, HP 11 Notebook, HP ZBook Mobile Workstations (17 G3 and Studio G3). The batteries were also sold as accessories or replacement batteries for the HP ZBook Studio G4 Mobile Workstation, HP ProBook 4xx G5 Series, HP ENVY 15 Series, HP Mobile Thin Clients (mt21, mt22 and mt31), or for one of the products listed above. .

The batteries were shipped between December 2015 and April 2018 with the HP laptops listed above, and sold separately between December 2015 and December 2018.

Consumers can visit HP's battery recall site to find out if their laptop is affected. The batteries are not customer replaceable, which means that you will need to return your laptop to HP for service.

If you make If the battery is affected, do not remove it yourself, warned HP. Instead, HP has developed a BIOS update that puts the battery in a "battery safety mode". This mode discharges the battery and prevents it from recharging until the battery is replaced. In other words, HP has stated that your laptop will simply refuse to operate without the charger. So you have to plug it in to use it.

What does this mean for you? Battery recalls occur due to errors in the manufacturing process or other defects. If you have an HP notebook, go to the HP website to determine if your PC is affected.