14 DAY TRIAL // Remember that a while ago Google and HP had to pull the Chromebook 11 back from sale due to overheating chargers troubles. Well, it appears Lenovo is going through something similar at the moment.
This time we’re not dealing with overheating chargers, but with battery packs. It looks like Lenovo is recalling certain ThinkPad lappy battery packs that might constitute a fire hazard to the users and the notebooks per se.
The recall includes 35,500 batteries sold in the US and 2,900 batteries in Canada. It appears the American continent is not the only territory Lenovo is pulling batteries out off. In China Lenovo also recalled a pretty hefty 117,732 units.
The affected battery packs could be inside the ThinkPad Edge 11, 13 and 14 series laptops and also T410, T420, T510, W510, X100e, X120e, X200, X201 and X201s models which have been sold between October 2010 and April 2011.
Stand-alone batteries selling for prices between $80 / €58 and $150 / €109 might also be eligible for recall.
Customers owning one of the laptops mentioned above are advised by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to “immediately turn off their ThinkPad notebook computers, remove the battery pack and contact Lenovo for a free replacement battery pack.”
“Consumers can continue to use their ThinkPad notebooks without the battery pack by plugging in the AC adapter and power cord.”
If you are wondering how wide-spread the problem is, we can tell you Lenovo is recalling the batteries as a precautionary method. According to the US CPSC the device manufacturer has only received “two reports of battery packs overheating, resulting in damage to the computer, battery pack and nearby property. No injuries have been reported.”
Lenovo has set up a dedicated page, so it can help users figure out if their battery will be recalled. This is what the company says:
“Lenovo voluntarily recalled certain lithium-ion batteries. These batteries were manufactured for use with ThinkPad notebook computers […]. Lenovo is offering replacement batteries free of charge regardless of warranty status.”
Recalled battery packs can be identified by looking at the white sticker located below the bar code. So if you see one of these numbers, 42T4695, 42T4711, 42T4798, 42T4804, 42T4812, 42T4822, 42T4828, 42T4834, 42T4840 and 42T4890, you should be contacting Lenovo to request a battery change.
The replacements should arrive within three days.