Digital Journal — It looks like Hewlett-Packard has yet another serious problem with a battery-powered system. The giant electronics company has now issued a third major global product recall because of fire hazards.
Only nine months after its launch, HP has issued a public recall of 679,000 model R707 digital cameras sold between August 2004 and April 2006. It’s the largest recall to date.
HP received at least one report the camera caught fire after a user connected it to an AC adapter or docking station while the camera had non-rechargeable batteries inside. According to HP, the camera can overheat some types of rechargeable batteries.
“When the R707 camera is used with a non-rechargeable battery, such as a Duracell CP-1, the camera can cause the battery to overheat resulting in a burn and fire hazard while the camera is connected to the AC adapter or camera docking station,” the company warns. “The R707 camera contains firmware that controls the battery charging functions. The firmware provided with all R707 cameras is affected by this recall.”
While it’s still not clear why HP is having so many issues with batteries and charging systems, the company is working to downplay the problems.
This recall chalks up the third battery-related problem for HP who in April issued a worldwide recall of almost 16,000 notebooks that contained Chinese-made batteries which caught fire because of overheating.
In October 2005, HP recalled 130,000 batteries used in similar model laptops.
The company still has yet to draw serious attention to the most recent recall on its website, instead forcing consumers to check a small link titled “replacement programs and product recalls” at the bottom of its website.
