HP recalls 54,000 laptop batteries
Scope of past recalls expanded
HP has asked owners of dozens of models of laptop to return the machines' batteries just in case said power packs go foom.
The recall follows a similar programme put in place a year ago and comes after HP "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" since then.
The recall affects some 54,000 machines, HP said.
The offending power packs were sold in laptops and as standalone units between August 2007 and July 2008 inclusive.
HP has a history of battery recalls going back to 2005, but it's by no means the only notebook maker hit by the need to gather in power packs. Acer, Apple, Dell, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony and many others have had to do so too over the past decade.
If you own an HP notebook, you can check whether it might be affected by the recall here. ®
COMMENTS
Only the batteries?
The HP G6000 laptop we bought for my daughter a couple of years back was fine until we noticed it getting very hot. It then mysteriously started having issues booting. Searching on various forums revealed that these symptoms are common with this model and are said to be a result of overheating. I checked to see if the battery was part of earlier recall programmes - it was not.
I will have to wait until I get home tonight to see if our battery is now part of the recall programme (and I have a sneaky feeling that it will be). Question is: did this overheating battery also cause irreversible damage to nearby components and, if so, will HP be offering a free repair for the consequential damage?
