Amazon recalls 260,000 portable power banks due to fire hazard

Greg S

Posts: 1,607   +442

After receiving more than 50 reports of overheating, six different version of AmazonBasics portable batteries are being recalled. Chemical burns and property damage from fire and smoke have been reported. This recall applies to units sold between December 2014 and July 2017.

In an advisory from the United States Consumer Product Safety commission, end users are asked to "immediately unplug and stop using the recalled power banks and contact Amazon for instructions on how to return the unit and receive a full refund." All customers that have purchased an affected unit will be contacted and asked to register their product for a refund.

AmazonBasics Portable Battery units being recalled

  • 2,000 mAh with micro USB cable (B00LRK8EVO)
  • 3,000 mAh with USB micro cable (B00LRK8HJ8)
  • 3,000 mAh (B00LRK8I7O)
  • 5,600 mAh (B00LRK8IV0)
  • 10,000 mAh (B00LRK8JDC)
  • 16,100 mAh (B00ZQ4JQAA)

Protected lithium-ion battery cells have been turned into relatively safe components and are found in plenty of common household electronics. However, when engineered safety mechanisms fail to operate as intended, the results can be devastating.

Even though the Note 8 and Galaxy S9 are now available, everyone still remembers the Note 7 fiasco. The more stored energy contained in a battery, the worse the effects can be when failure occurs. Three of the affected battery models are all significantly larger than average cell phone batteries and would have no problem causing serious damage to anything near them should they ignite.

A dedicated website has been setup to automatically process refunds upon registering an affected product. Contacting Amazon's customer service will also point you in the right direction should there be any trouble with the form.

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This is exactly why I don't buy Amazon basics stuff. I'll stick to using Anker power banks.
 
When Amazon went to look for a supplier, they probably took the lowest bid. :)
 
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