The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP, Houston, TX), announced that it is recalling about 135,000 battery packs for some HP and Compaq laptop computers because of reports they overheated and melted. The company has received 16 reports of the batteries' overheating; four cases occurred in the United States. The lithium-ion rechargeable battery packs are used with HP Pavilion, Compaq Presario, HP Compaq, and Compaq Evo laptop computers. The recalled packs bear a barcode label starting with GC, IA, L0, or L1.
The battery packs were sold internationally from March 2004 through May 20005 by national and regional electronics stores, and on Internet sites such as http://www.hp.com and http://www.hpshopping.com. The battery is made by a third-party vendor that HP would not identify. Consumers should stop using the products and contact the company for a free replacement.
