Lenova ThinkPad Recall Issued Over Battery Fire Risk

Over 37,000 notebook computer battery packs have been recalled after the manufacturer received reports of the batteries overheating, posing a fire and burn hazard to users and nearby property. 

A Lenovo Thinkpad battery pack recall was announced by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on March 27, following at least two consumer complaints indicating the battery packs overheated resulting in damage to the computer, battery pack, and nearby property. To date, no incidents involving fires or injury have been reported.

The Lenovo battery packs were sold with the following Thinkpad notebook computers: the Edge 11, Edge 13, Edge14, T410, T420, T510, W510 series, and the X100e, X120e, X201 and X201s series computers. The battery packs measure between 8 and 11 inches long and between 1 and 3 inches wide and roughly 1 inch tall. The packs were sold along with the computers but also separately. The affected battery packs may be identified by locating the product number located on a white label beginning with the fourth digit read as follows; 42T4695, 42T4711, 42T4798, 42T4804, 42T4812, 42T4822, 42T4834, 42T4840, 42T4890.

The products were manufactured in China under Lenovo Inc., of Morrisville, North Carolina where they were sold at computer and electronic stores nationwide and online at www.lenovo.com from October 2010 through April 2011 for between $350 and $3,000 when sold with the Thinkpad notebook. The batteries were also sold separately for between $80 and $150.

The CPSC recommends that customers stop using the battery packs immediately and remove them from the Thinkpad notebook computers and contact Lenovo at 800-426-7378 or visit them online at www.lenovo.com for instructions on how to receive a free replacement battery. Owners may continue to use their computers by removing the battery and plugging the computer into an AC adapter.