Some two months ago, in January, one of the leading computer manufacturers, HP, recalled 50000 batteries after confirming they had flaws. And now, they are recalling another 28,500 more. This brings the total recalled batteries to 78,500. Also, this makes it the third time HP issued a battery warning in the last four years.
HP says that the batteries are flawed in the sense they could catch fire. Apparently, they found out that their Lithium-ion batteries were prone to overheating and catching fire. This comes after the company received 8 new reports of battery packs in the U.S., overheating or charring. One of them even caused a minor injury to the user while two had property damages, totaling $1100.
Those batteries were installed in laptops and mobile work stations between Dec 2015 to Dec 2018. They were also sold separately during that time period.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) of the US, has advised HP laptop users to immediately visit HP’s website. Thereupon, users can find a page to check whether their batteries are prone or not. So, if any of you are using an HP laptop, then, maybe check if everything is alright. Especially, those who ordered their units from the US itself.
However, the company has advised users not to try removing the batteries themselves. As they have the potential to overheat and can be hazardous. And HP’s providing battery replacements by authorized technicians at no extra cost. Of course, that may not be applicable to the people here. But nevertheless, you should check your battery and be safe.
In addition, the firm is also releasing an update that puts affected hardware in “Battery Safety Mode”. That can make the notebook or workstation safe to use without the battery, by connecting to an HP adapter. All the necessary instructions are available on HP’s website.
