Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/05/31/hp_laptop_battery_recall/

HP issues annual exploding battery recall

If you checked yours before, check it again

By Rik Myslewski

Posted in Channel, 31st May 2011 23:41 GMT

HP came thiiis close to getting out of the month without its traditional May laptop-battery recall – but it didn't quite make it.

HP batteries under recall

Bad batteries! Bad! Bad! (click to enlarge)

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced that HP is recalling another 162,600 lithium-ion batteries that shipped with HP- and Compaq-branded laptops.

These new recalls are in addition to the 70,000 that it recalled in May 2009 and the 54,000 that it recalled in May 2010.

According to the CPSC, since the 2010 recall, HP received 40 more reports of faulty batteries that overheated and burst, resulting in "seven burn injuries, one smoke inhalation injury, and 36 instances of property damage."

The May 2009 recall was instituted after a mere two ruptured batteries and no injuries. Between the 2009 and 2010 recalls, there were 38 failures with 11 minor injuries and 31 reports of property damage.

In case you're scoring at home, that's now a total of 80 reported exploding batteries, 19 injuries, 67 incidents of property damage, and 286,000 recalled bad boys. All of the suspect batteries, by the way, were manufactured in China.

Since the problematic-battery suspects keep increasing, the CPSC helpfully provides an updated list, and notes: "Consumers who had previously checked their batteries and were informed they were not included in previous announcements are urged to check again."

If your HP battery is on the list, you'll get a new one free from HP – find out how on the company's Battery Pack Replacement Program website, which also provides info about recalls in 2005, 2006, and 2008.

And perhaps it might be wise to check again come May 2012. ®