Citing a safety concern, Hewlett-Packard has issued a voluntary recall of Lithium-Ion batteries used in some laptops, saying they pose a fire hazard to users.

 

The recall includes about 70,000 batteries that are used in the company's HP and Compaq-branded laptops, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said. The CPSC offers details of the models that could have malfunction batteries on its Web site. The batteries were made in China, PC World reports. The name of the batteries’ manufacturer, however, was not disclosed.

 

The CPSC received two separate reports of batteries that "overheated and ruptured” the organization said. While no injuries were reported to the users, the faulty batteries caused minor property damage as a result of flames and fire.

 

HP, the top laptop maker in the world, sold 32,000 of the affected batteries in its laptops, according to a CNET report. The laptops containing the batteries in question were sold between August 2007 through March 2008 and cost between $500 and $3,000.

Consumers can check to see if they have a faulty battery by checking the service tag (News - Alert) as shown here:

 

It’s not the first time a laptop manufacturer issued a major recall of laptop batteries. Last fall, Sony issued a recall for roughly 100,000 notebook batteries saying that the lithium-ion batteries could overheat and pose a fire and burn hazard to users.

 

Typically, the CPSC advises consumers to remove the faulty batteries from their notebook computers and call the computer manufacturer to determine whether their battery is included in the recall. If so, consumers can request a free replacement.

 

The recall comes a year after HP, Dell (News - Alert) and other lap top makers experienced a battery shortage after a fire at a major supplier.