For the third year in a row, the information technology corporation Hewlett-Packard (HP) has been forced to recall hundreds of thousands of its lithium-ion laptop batteries after reports that some of them exploded and injured users.
According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), HP is this month recalling 162,600 batteries that are usually sold with Compaq and HP laptops. This is in addition to the 54,000 batteries it recalled in May 2010 and the 70,000 recalled in May 2009.
The problem with the batteries is believed to be an overheating fault. Since the 2010 recalls, there have been 40 complaints made to HP of batteries that were faulty, overheated and ‘exploded’. These incidents caused everything from burn injuries and smoke inhalation to property damage for those affected.
In total since the recalls began, a total of 80 ruptured batteries have been reported, along with 67 instances of property damage and 19 injuries.
HP is likely to be relying on its product liability insurance to cover the costs of the recall, refunds and battery replacements, and any claims for compensation due to personal injury or property damage.