Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

HP pays $425,000 to settle claims over hazardous laptop batteries

The company eventually recalled 32,000 batteries, which a watchdog agency said were at risk of overheating or catching fire

Hewlett-Packard will pay US$425,000 to settle a claim that it knowingly sold laptops with hazardous batteries that could overheat or catch fire, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Monday.

HP had learned of about 22 incidents involving the batteries by September 2007, but it failed to report the problem until 10 months later, according to the Commission.

"In at least two of those incidents, the products caused injury to consumers. In at least one of those incidents, the consumer apparently went to the hospital," the Commission said in a settlement agreement with HP.

The lithium-ion battery packs were shipped in new HP laptops or sold as accessories and spare parts. Because of the defect, they could overheat, posing fire and burn hazards, the Commission said.

Soon after it reported the problem, HP and the Commission recalled about 32,000 lithium-ion battery packs.

Around the same time, Dell and Toshiba also recalled lithium-ion battery packs, which had been manufactured by Sony.

In agreeing to the settlement, HP denied the batteries posed an unreasonable risk or that it had violated federal reporting requirements. With respect to the recall, it acted "in accordance with the CPSA and in its customers' best interests," HP said in the agreement.

The Commission said it still wants to hear about incidents involving the battery packs. Consumers can report them at the SaferProducts.gov website.

James Niccolai covers data centers and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow James on Twitter at @jniccolai. James's e-mail address is james_niccolai@idg.com

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Dell, Dell Computer, Hewlett-Packard, HP, IDG, PSA, Sony, Toshiba
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Civil lawsuits, hardware systems, hewlett-packard, laptops, legal, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Windows laptops
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • How progressive companies are using social technologies
    Social networks and collaborative technologies are now commonplace in many workplaces. Having first been used “on the quiet” by highly-networked employees, in increasing numbers they are now being proactively used by businesses keen to connect more effectively with their internal and external audiences. Web collaboration is now viewed as critical to company success and as having multiple benefits and applications to the business. Read on.
    Learn more »
  • Optimizing Data Quality in the Enterprise - How to Tackle Your Bad Information
    Data quality – the measure of data accuracy, completeness, and consistency across a business – has become the core focus of information management efforts among many of today’s organizations. Problems with data quality continue to plague corporations of all types and sizes. In this paper, we will discuss some techniques companies can implement to enhance data quality across the entire enterprise. We will also highlight data quality management solutions, which provide businesses with the ability to effectively and economically enhance the correctness, completeness, and consistency of information in each and every system within their technology infrastructure.
    Learn more »
  • Becoming a Social Business
    As global business accelerates ever faster and companies work to quickly respond to customer demands, competitive threats and rapidly evolving trends, the richness and efficiency of social collaboration plays a key role in enabling future success. The challenge then is finding the best approach. Read on.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments