Better safe than sorry. HP is expanding its battery recall program to include several more laptop models. This expansion is a continuation of last year’s voluntary recall and affects approximately 150,000 notebooks.
After finding that several laptop models could potentially be a safety concern to consumers thanks to potentially overheating batteries, the company took preemptive measures to eliminate the problem. The expansion covers several new models including the HP Probook 64x G2. Similar to last year’s recall, HP says the problem affects only 0.1 percent of laptops sold worldwide over the past several years and stems from manufacturer error.
The systems impacted by the recall are:
- HP ProBook (64x G2 and G3, 65x G2 and G3)
- HP ProBook 4xx G4 (430, 440, 450, 455 and 470)
- HP x360 310 G2
- HP ENVY m6
- HP mt20
- HP mt 21
- HP mt 31
- HP Pavilion x360
- HP 11 notebooks
- HP ZBook (17 G3, 17 G4, Studio G3)
MORE: HP Customer Service Rating: Undercover Tech Support Review
And just like last year, HP is asking consumers visit this website and download its battery validation tool. One installed, the test will run a diagnostic on your notebook’s battery. If everything’s fine, it’s business as usual for you and your system. If not, the software will initiate Safe Mode and start the process of safely draining your battery. HP will send over a replacement battery and a person to install the part since some battery compartments are harder to reach than others.
If your laptop passed the test last year, HP is strongly recommending that you rerun the test just to be sure. If it passes the test again, you’re good to go and if not, HP will take the proper steps to remedy the problem.
Once again, we applaud HP for taking a proactive approach towards consumer safety and quality control. Although, the defect only affects a small number of systems, it’s great to see HP take the initiative.
