The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall of more than 100,000 Panasonic-branded battery packs that shipped with 39 models of Toshiba laptops sold between June 2011 and January 2016.
The faulty lithium-ion batteries can overheat which poses burn and fire hazards. To date, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission has received four reports of battery packs overheating and melting. Fortunately, no injuries have been reported.
The recall affects Toshiba Protégé, Satellite and Tecra models sold at Office Depot, Staples and other electronics stores nationwide in addition to systems sold through Toshiba’s website and at other online retailers. On average, systems ranging in price from $500 to $1,000 are most likely to be impacted by the recall. Some battery packs were also sold separately and installed by Toshiba's repair division.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission urges users to visit Toshiba’s website to download a utility to check and see if their model is impacted. Optionally, consumers can perform a manual check using the laptop and battery pack’s model, part and serial numbers. Packs included in the recall have part numbers that begin with G71C (G71C*******).
If a user’s system is part of the recall, they’re encouraged to power off the laptop, remove the battery pack and follow the instructions to receive a free replacement battery pack. In the interim, consumers can still use the laptop by simply plugging in the AC adapter.
Roughly 91,000 batteries impacted by the recall were distributed in the US plus another 10,000 in Canada.
https://www.techspot.com/news/64297-toshiba-issues-recall-100000-faulty-laptop-batteries-could.html
