HP issuing worldwide battery recall for its notebooks
The recall concerns Panasonic batteries for certain HP notebooks including those from the Compaq, ProBook, Envy, Presario, and Pavilion series sold between March 2013 and August 2015. Additionally, batteries that have been sold or purchased separately as spares may also be affected. These modules have been shown to overheat and catch on fire under certain conditions.
Batteries with the following serial numbers are affected by the recall: 6BZLU^^^^^^^^^, 6CGFK^^^^^^^^^, 6CGFQ^^^^^^^^^, 6CZMB^^^^^^^^^, 6DEMA^^^^^^^^^, 6DEMH^^^^^^^^^, 6DGAL^^^^^^^^^, 6EBVA^^^^^^^^^
While the list is thankfully short, these models are present on a large number of notebooks. HP is providing steps for replacing said batteries and is asking affected users to stop using the batteries immediately and to remove them from notebooks if possible to reduce the risk of damage.
Customers can check or download software from HP that can automatically detect and warn owners if their notebook batteries are affected by the recall.
Recalls due to battery or power concerns are not uncommon. Toshiba recently issued a recall on 100,000 laptop batteries while Microsoft issued a recall on certain AC adapters for its Surface family of tablets all within the last six months.