14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this month, HP made an announcement informing its customers that a number of approximately 70,000 laptop batteries were subject to a recall program, due to a fire hazard the company discovered following two reports from laptop users. It now appears that the world's leading vendor of computer systems has to recall an additional 15,000 laptop batteries from systems that were sold in China. The reported laptop batteries are subject to the same fire hazard and will be replaced by the company's China offices.
The reports about the laptop batteries have been made available through a webpage of the Chinese government, which is meant to inform Chinese users of the various models that are subject to the reported fire hazard and consequently to the battery replacement program. Users of HP Pavilion, Compaq Presario and HP Compaq laptops should check with the website and see if their laptop is among the systems that are subject to the recall announcement. The website also indicates that the fire hazard can occur in laptops that were sold between late 2007 and early 2008.
The news about the 15,000 lithium-ion batteries that are now subject to HP's recall program, follows a recent announcement made by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which posted a warning saying that 70,000 HP laptop batteries were subject to the aforementioned issues. If you find yourself among the users that have bought one of these laptops, you should contact your local HP representative and become eligible for the battery replacement program, granted your system's battery runs the risk of failure.
HP's image is likely to suffer from this major battery recall, especially since the Palo Alto, California-based company is facing a significant pressure from its competitors. Although it's currently at the top on the PC market, the company's future success rests on its ability to deal with the reported issue.