Lenovo recalls 150 thousand laptop batteries due to fire hazard

Lenovo Group on Friday said it would recall as many as 150 thousand laptop batteries due to fire hazard. The batteries powered over ten different ThinkPad notebook models, which were on sale in the U.S., Canada and China.

According to the U.S. consumer product safety commission, Lenovo has received two reports of the lithium-ion battery packs overheating, resulting in damage to the computer, battery pack and nearby property. No injuries have fortunately been reported. The recall applies to 34.5 thousand batteries sold in the U.S., 2900 units sold in Canada as well as 117.7 thousand batteries sold in China. It is unclear how many of such batteries were sold in Europe.

The affected batteries (in 3-cell, 4-cell, 6-cell or 9-cell configurations) were manufactured for use with ThinkPad notebook computers that shipped worldwide between October, 2010, and April, 2011. The company also sold such batteries separately. Lenovo is offering replacement batteries free of charge regardless of warranty status.

Lenovo sold the batteries with the following notebook computers ThinkPad T410, T420, T510, W510, X100E, X120E, X200, X201, X201s, Edge 11, Edge 13, and Edge 14 series.

Recalled battery packs have one of the following part numbers starting with the fourth digit in a long series of numbers and letters printed on a white sticker below the bar code on the battery pack: 42T4695, 42T4711, 42T4798, 42T4804, 42T4812, 42T4822, 42T4828, 42T4834, 42T4840 and 42T4890. To automatically determine if your battery is being recalled, you should download a special utility from Lenovo’s web-site.

Consumers should cease using the battery pack and contact Lenovo for a free replacement battery pack or visit a page at Lenovo’s web-site.

KitGuru Says: In case you own one of such ThinkPad PCs, you should probably check whether your laptop is affected as soon as possible. The older batteries get, the less reliable they are.

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