If you have an HP laptop, you'll want to see if you're impacted by a new voluntary recall. The company has announced it is recalling batteries for notebooks and mobile workstations due to concerns of overheating.
The recall is in response to eight reports of batteries "overheating, melting, or charring," HP says. Three reports have included property damage "totaling $4,500," says HP, and on report included a first-degree burn.
According to the recall notice, around 50,000 units are affected, representing batteries shipped with notebooks and mobile workstations sold from December 2015 through December 2017. Impacted models include:
- HP ProBooks (64x G2 and G3 series, 65x G2 and G3 series)
- HPx360 310 G2
- HP Envy m6
- HP Pavilion x360
- HP 11, HP ZBook (17 G3, 17 G4, and Studio G3) Mobile Workstations
The batteries in question were also sold as replacements for the HP ZBook Studio G4 mobile workstation or any of the above products, HP says.
HP has issued instructions for using its battery validation tool to check if your laptop is impacted. If you are, HP suggests you place your laptop into "Battery Safety Mode" with a provided BIOS update.
Accepting Battery Safety Mode causes the battery to discharge and to cease future charging until Battery Safety Mode is disabled. HP strongly recommends accepting Battery Safety Mode so that the notebook or mobile workstation can be safely used by connecting to an HP power adaptor.
This isn't HP's first row with a battery recall. Just under a year ago, in late January of 2017, HP was forced to recall around 100,000 batterries over similar overheating concerns. That recall was an expansion to an earlier recall from 2016, which initially impacted around 41,000 laptop batteries.
For more, you can find information on affected models and how to have your battery replaced at HP.
