Based on information provided by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (and reported by Ohio News) HP has received a total of 16 reports of batteries overheating, melting or charring, including one report of minor injury and two reports of property damage totaling $1,100. This is the latest in a series of recalls by the computer manufacturer.
The first recall was back in January of 2018, for battery related reasons. This was then extended in January 2019, however the story went relatively unreported as the U.S. government shutdown interfered with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s ability to communicate the expansion to consumers and news outlets.
HP have said the affected units were “shipped in notebook computers and mobile workstations sold from December 2015 through April 2018” and they were, as Engadget notes, sold separately between December 2015 and December 2018. Officially HP requested that the recall relates to batteries only and not to the laptops. Given that most batteries are non-removable by end users, this means that users still need to ship the entire laptop off for the battery replacement to take place.
According to The Verge, the new recall announcement captures 28,500 laptop battery units. This is on top of the 50,000 initially announced in early 2018 (reaching 100,000 by the year end), plus those that were covered by the January 2109 recall.
HP do not have the best of records with either battery performance, safety or recalls. There have been annual recall announcements and expansions dating back to 2016. To date close to 250,000 laptops have been affected.
