HP has discovered additional laptops that may contain defective lithium-ion batteries that pose a risk of overheating and catching fire. The new total now stands at 128,500 batteries, as part of this recall.
According to a notice posted by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), HP had recalled 50,000 batteries in January 2018. This latest expansion adds another 78,500 batteries to the mix.
The expanded list was actually announced by HP in January of this year, but went largely unnoticed because of the government furlough, which prevented the CPSC from posting it as well.
Since the original recall, HP said it has received eight new reports of battery packs overheating, melting, or charring, one of which resulted in a "minor injury" and two others that caused property damage totaling $1,100.
"The batteries were shipped with or sold as accessories for HP ProBooks (64x G2 and G3 series, 65x G2 and G3 series, 4xx G4 series), HPx360 (310 G2), HP Pavilion x360 11inch Notebook PC, HP 11 Notebook PC, HP ZBook (17 G3, and Studio G3) mobile workstations. The batteries were also sold as accessories or replacement batteries for the HP ZBook Studio G4 mobile workstation, HP ProBook 4xx G5 series, HP ENVY 15, HP Mobile Thin Clients (mt21, mt22, and mt31), or for any of the products listed above," CSPC states in its notice.
HP has put up a website where owners of its laptops can download a battery validation tool to see if they are affected. The batteries are not user-replaceable, however HP is providing free replacements through authorized technicians.
