LG Energy Solution Home Battery Fires: What the CPSC Records Show

What LG Energy Solution Is and What It Makes

The company named in these recall notices is LG Energy Solution Michigan, Inc., of Holland, Michigan. Its CPSC notices list it as the importer of the recalled batteries. The December 2020 recall notice describes it as "(formerly LG Chem Michigan Inc.), a wholly-owned subsidiary of LG Energy Solution, Ltd. (in turn a wholly-owned subsidiary of LG Chem Ltd.)." That earlier name explains why some readers search for an "LG Chem battery fire." The older notices call the product an "LG Chem" battery, and the newest one calls it an "LG Energy Solution" battery.

A lithium-ion battery stores energy in cells that move lithium ions between electrodes, and a home energy storage system uses that kind of battery to hold power from rooftop solar panels for later use. The CPSC notices describe the RESU 10H as a battery "installed as part of a residential energy solar panel system" that allows owners "to capture and store energy from the solar panels." They give its size as about 29 by 36 by 8 inches and its weight as roughly 220 pounds, wall mounted, with the LG logo on the top left of the front panel.

If the battery in your home matches that description, these notices are the records that may apply to it. Paperwork that says "LG Chem" rather than "LG Energy Solution" does not, by that name difference alone, take the unit outside these records. This page is limited to those residential storage batteries; no official record cited on this page addresses other LG products.

Which LG Home Batteries the CPSC Recalls Cover

A recall is a safety action taken with the CPSC to address a product hazard. It can include a repair, a replacement or a refund. Federal law at 15 U.S.C. § 2064 generally requires a manufacturer, distributor or retailer that obtains information "which reasonably supports the conclusion" that a product has certain defects or "creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death" to "immediately inform the Commission." The same section lets the Commission order notice, repair, replacement or a refund after an opportunity for a hearing. Each notice below is labeled "Fast Track Recall" on its CPSC page. The records appear oldest first.

On December 16, 2020, the CPSC posted recall 21-055, "LG Energy Solution Michigan Recalls Home Energy Storage Batteries Due to Fire Hazard." It covers about 1,815 LG Chem RESU 10H (Type-R) units with serial numbers beginning R15563P3SSEG. The stated hazard is that "the home batteries can overheat, posing a risk of fire and emission of harmful smoke." The remedy listed is replacement.

On August 4, 2021, the CPSC posted recall 21-175 under the same title. It covers about 10,000 RESU 10H batteries with serial numbers beginning R15563P3, and it notes that 2017–2019 units "were previously recalled" in December 2020. It states the same hazard and lists replacement as the remedy.

CPSC recall 22-058, "Eguana Technologies Recalls Evolve Home Energy Storage Systems with LG Battery Due to Fire Hazard," lists a recall date of January 26, 2022. Eguana Technologies is the recalling firm, and the notice names LG Energy Solution Michigan as importer of the lithium-ion battery module. It covers about 245 Evolve 0513U systems with serial numbers from ET-000200 to ET-000600. It states that "the lithium-ion battery modules within the Evolve Home Energy Storage Systems can overheat, posing a fire hazard," and it lists repair as the remedy.

On October 27, 2022, the CPSC posted recall 23-705, "LG Energy Solution Michigan Recalls Home Energy Storage Batteries Due to Fire Hazard (Recall Alert)." It covers about 11,500 RESU 10H batteries with serial numbers beginning R15563P3S. It states that "the home solar panel batteries can overheat, posing a risk of fire and emission of harmful smoke." The remedy listed is repair through diagnostic software updates.

The notices say the RESU batteries were sold through "various distributors of solar energy storage systems nationwide." These are separate records about specific models and serial ranges, not every LG product. For someone whose battery caught fire, the serial number is often the first fact that connects a unit to one of these records, and checking it works field by field, as described in our lithium battery recall lookup guide. Because the remedies differ (replacement, repair or a software update), which notice applies can also bear on whether a remedy reached the unit before the fire.

If Your Home Battery Overheated or Caught Fire: What 'Fire Hazard' Means

In each notice, "fire hazard" names the risk the recall addresses: overheating that can lead to fire and, in the RESU notices, "emission of harmful smoke." It describes a risk, not what happened in any particular home. For a homeowner, that means the notice alone does not explain a specific fire, but it can show that the type of failure seen was one the recall was meant to address.

Thermal runaway is the term often used for one way lithium-ion cells fail. It is a self-reinforcing heat cycle inside a battery cell that can lead to fire or explosion. A battery management system (BMS) is the electronic system that monitors and controls charging, temperature and cell balance. The CPSC notices do not use either term, but they describe safeguards of the same general kind. In recall 23-705, the CPSC page says the software updates "are designed to monitor the recalled battery cells and shut down the battery if a fire risk is detected." In recall 22-058, the page says connected units "will have the batteries state of charge remotely limited, to reduce the risk of overheating." Whether a unit received one of these safeguards before a fire is often one of the first things a family's records can help show.

Each notice also reports incidents the firm received. Recall 21-055 states: "The firm has received five reports of fires resulting in minor property damage. No injuries have been reported." Recall 21-175 states: "The firm has received five reports of the lithium storage batteries smoking and catching on fire, resulting in property damage and one injury." Recall 22-058 states "None reported." Recall 23-705 states one report of "smoking and catching fire, resulting in property damage. No injuries have been reported."

An incident report is an account received by a company or agency. It does not establish what caused a fire. For a family looking at a scorched wall, that difference matters: whether a particular fire began in the battery, the wiring, the installation or somewhere else is a separate factual question, and it usually takes physical evidence to answer. That is why what remains of the unit can carry so much weight.

What an Injured Homeowner Would Have to Show After a Battery Fire

If a home battery fire hurt you or damaged your home, product liability law is the body of law that addresses whether a manufacturer, distributor or seller may be responsible. Most of these cases are decided under state law, so limitation periods, fault rules, damages rules and wrongful-death rules depend on which state's law applies, and no single state's rule applies everywhere.

Courts generally recognize three kinds of product problem. A design defect would mean the battery's design itself poses a risk. A manufacturing defect would mean a specific unit departs from its intended design. A warning defect would mean the warnings or instructions about a known risk were inadequate. The CPSC uses a similar idea for its own reporting purposes. Under 16 C.F.R. § 1115.4, "a defect is a fault, flaw, or irregularity that causes weakness, failure, or inadequacy in form or function." That regulation adds that a defect "can also occur in a product's contents, construction, finish, packaging, warnings, and/or instructions." That is a federal reporting standard, not the test a state court applies in an injury case.

A product liability claim generally asks a person to show three things: a defect, that the defect caused the injury, and that damages resulted. A fire alone does not prove a defect, and an injury does not prove anyone's fault. In practice, the battery's remains and the fire records often carry the claim. Depending on the state, the categories of damages the law may allow can include medical expenses, lost income, property loss and pain and suffering. Wrongful death means a claim brought by family members or an estate after a death caused by another's conduct or product; state wrongful-death law decides who may bring one and what it may cover.

The manufacturer is not the only party whose conduct may be examined. When a fire may trace to how a system was put in, the installer's license, the quality of the work, and whether the installer carried out the recall remedy can raise separate questions of responsibility. A conversation with an attorney can help sort out which parties' roles the facts point toward.

If Your Battery Is on a Recall List: What the Recall Record Can and Cannot Do

A recall is not a finding that the product was defective in a particular case, an incident report does not prove what caused an injury, a lawsuit is not a finding of liability, and an allegation is not a fact. A CPSC recall notice is a government-coordinated safety action, not a court finding or an admission of liability. What a notice does do is put certain facts on the public record: a model, a serial range, the dates the product was sold, a stated hazard and a remedy. For a homeowner, the first practical question is often whether the unit on the wall falls within one of those ranges. If it does, the recall can help frame the questions; it does not answer them.

Evidence carries the weight that a recall cannot. If you were hurt, the records that usually matter include:

• the battery unit itself or what remains of it;
• the purchase and installation records;
• photos and video of the damage;
• medical records;
• fire department or incident reports.

Families also often note the serial label, which these notices place behind the access door, and keep records of any remedy notice or software update they received. Any of these may help answer whether a specific unit was covered and what happened to it. If the unit is discarded or the records are lost, those answers can become harder to reach.

Filing Deadlines and Why They Differ by State

A statute of limitations is the period set by state law within which a claim must be filed in court. The length differs by state, and so does when the clock starts, whether on the date of injury, on the date the injury was discovered, or by another rule. Each state has its own exceptions. Some states also have separate rules for products, and a death may fall under different wrongful-death timing.

Missing the deadline that applies can bar a claim entirely, however strong the evidence. This is the one part of the law that does not wait on the investigation. The site's state pages, such as the California lithium battery injury and Texas lithium battery injury pages, set out those states' rules from their own statutes.

Which state's law governs, and when its clock began, can be unclear when a battery was made overseas, imported in one state and installed in another. If you would like to talk that through, you can request a case evaluation with our attorney.

Questions Worth Asking Before Speaking With an Attorney About a Battery Fire

A homeowner whose battery caught fire, or a family displaced by one, often has a handful of facts that shape the whole picture. These questions tend to come up:

• Do the battery's model and serial number appear in one of the CPSC recall notices?
• Was the fire or injury documented in a fire department report, medical records or photos?
• Is the battery unit, or its remains, still available?
• Who installed the system, was that installer licensed, and do installation records exist?
• Did the owner receive a recall notice, a replacement or a software update, and when?

None of these questions decides anything alone. Together they help sort out what is known and what is still unclear. Missing answers are common, and a case evaluation is a conversation with our attorney about what happened: the battery, the installation, the fire, the injuries and the records that exist. Other brand pages on this site, such as the Samsung battery fires page, follow the same approach to the records.