Hewlett-Packard Gets Civil Penalty Of $425,000 For Failure To Report Defective Battery Packs

Hewlett-Packard (HP) the largest computer system manufacturer in the world has run into a bit of trouble. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) alleges that HP knowingly failed to report that certain lithium-ion battery packs contained a defect or created a potentially unreasonable risk of serious injury and or death. These defective battery packs were used in HP notebook computers, and sold as accessories as well as spare parts for various HP models. The CPSC staff has said that by September 2007 HP was already aware of 22 incidents associated with the lithium-ion battery packs with two such incidents resulting in injuries with one of them ending in a hospital visit. On July 25th 2008 when HP did finally notify the CPSC the Commission was aware of 31 incidents involving the defective lithium-ion battery packs. HP and the CPSC did end up finally announcing a recall of around 32,000 lithium-ion battery packs in October 2008 nearly a year after the issue was discovered. Federal Law mandates that manufacturers must report to the CPSC within 24 hours of obtaining information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product happens to contain a potential defect. This would mean that Hewlett-Packard had failed to follow Federal Laws and regulations. Hewlett-Packard has agreed to pay a $425,000 civil penalty, but in doing so they still deny the CPSC staff’s allegations that the lithium-ion battery packs were a risk to consumers.