HP Recalls 203,000 Laptops Over Battery Fires

HP has said that it must recall 70,000 batteries in the U.S. following incidents that saw two machines overheat and catch fire.

In coordination with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, HP yesterday announced a voluntary recall and replacement program for battery packs used in certain models of the company's laptops. The CPSC said it had received two reports of the batteries catching fire due to overheating and while no one was injured, the Commission has instructed owners of affected models to stop using them immediately.

Affected machines were sold between August 2007 through March 2008. For a list of affected models, see below. HP is instructing consumers who may be part of the recall to remove the battery from their notebook and contact  to find out if theirs is affected. HP says it will provide a free replacement battery.

The problem affects 70,000 batteries in the US, however, according to a report in The Register, the worldwide count of affected batteries comes to a total 203,000. Citing an HP spokesperson, The Register reports that 82,000 are affecting in the Americas, 35,000 in Asia Pacific and 86,000 in Europe and Middle East and Africa.

Listed below are the models of laptops affected by the recall. However, the CPSC and HP note that not all models listed will contain faulty batteries. To check if you machine is one of the unlucky 70,000 check the bar code label on the bottom of your laptop. If it has one of the labels listed below, then you need to contact HP.

Check out the original announcement from the CPSC here.