Lenovo Laptop Battery Recall: What the CPSC Records Show

If You Own a Lenovo Battery: The Two CPSC Recall Records

The two records are separate notices on the CPSC's own website, and each is the best place to start.

The first is titled Lenovo Recalls USB-C Laptop Power Banks Due to Fire Hazard. The CPSC page gives a recall date of November 22, 2023, the recall number 24-031, and the units as "About 2,850 (In addition, about 510 were sold in Canada)." It names the importer as Lenovo Inc., of Morrisville, North Carolina, states the product was manufactured in China, and labels the action a "Fast Track Recall."

The second is titled Lenovo Recalls ThinkPad Notebook PC Extended-Life Batteries Due to Fire Hazard. That page gives a recall date of March 1, 2007, the recall number 07-118, and the units as "About 100,000 battery packs (an additional 105,000 battery packs were sold worldwide)." It names the battery distributor as Lenovo (United States) Inc., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., and the battery manufacturer as Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., of Japan, and describes the action as a voluntary recall carried out "In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission."

A recall is not a finding that a product injured anyone, that it was defective in a legal sense, or that any company is liable. Whether a particular device falls within either record turns on the details each CPSC page gives, model and serial numbers included, rather than the brand name alone. A guide to checking CPSC recall notices walks through that process field by field. If you are trying to understand a fire or an overheating device, knowing which record, if either, matches the device is often the first fact that shapes everything after it.

Is Your Device Covered? What Each Recall Record Identifies

Each notice identifies its product in its own way, and the details are what decide coverage.

For recall 24-031, the CPSC page describes "the Lenovo USB USB-C Laptop Power Bank with model number PBLG2W." It states the power bank has a 20,000 mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery, is black, measures about 7 inches long by 3 inches wide, and has "Lenovo" printed in black letters on a red tag on the USB power cord. The page states the recalled units carry a manufacturing date of 21/12, 22/01, 22/02, 22/03, 22/04, 22/05 or 22/06, in a year/month format on the product label. It then adds an important qualifier: "Not all units with these date codes are affected. Lenovo has determined the specific Serial Numbers affected." The page directs owners to Lenovo's dedicated recall webpage to enter the serial number from the label, and notes that the part number 40ALLG2WWW and model number PBLG2W also appear there. The page states the power banks were sold online from May 2022 through January 2023 for about $100, through retailers it lists by name.

For recall 07-118, the CPSC page states that Lenovo sold the extended-life batteries with new ThinkPad notebooks or as optional or replacement batteries for these models: R Series (R60 and R60e), T Series (T60 and T60p) and Z Series (Z60m, Z61e, Z61m and Z61p). It identifies the recalled 9-cell batteries by the part number "FRU P/N 92P1131," found on the battery label, and states they were sold between November 2005 and February 2007.

These are two different actions, about sixteen years apart, covering a portable power bank in one case and a laptop battery pack in the other. A device that matches one record says nothing about the other. If the device was damaged in a fire, the label, serial number and packaging may be the only way to tie it to a record, which is one reason what remains of a device can matter.

When a Battery Overheats: The Hazard Each Recall Describes

Two terms help with what follows. A short circuit is an unintended electrical path that bypasses normal resistance, causing a rapid flow of current and a buildup of heat. Thermal runaway is a self-reinforcing cycle in which a lithium-ion battery generates more heat than it can release, speeding up until the cell vents, catches fire or ruptures. Neither notice uses the phrase thermal runaway; it is the general term for how overheating in a lithium-ion battery can escalate.

The power bank notice, recall 24-031, describes its hazard this way: "The power bank's internal screws can come loose, causing a short circuit and overheating of the lithium-ion battery, posing a fire hazard." The same hazard section adds a warning about disposal: "Do not put lithium-ion batteries in the trash or battery recycling boxes found at various retail and home improvement stores. They can cause fires and explosions if they are damaged or crushed and are a hazard when thrown in the trash."

The ThinkPad notice, recall 07-118, describes a different mechanism: "If the battery in the laptop is struck forcefully on the corner, such as from a direct fall to the ground, the battery pack can overheat and pose a fire hazard to users. This is not an internal battery cell defect."

One notice points to loose internal parts creating an electrical fault. The other points to physical impact on the pack and says the problem is not in the internal cells. The hazard language describes a risk the record identifies; it is not a finding that any particular fire or injury was caused by a recalled unit. If you are piecing together what happened, comparing how the device was used, dropped or stored with the mechanism a notice describes is one way to see how close the two are.

What the CPSC Remedy Requires — and What Consumers Should Do

The remedy for each recall is listed on the CPSC page as "Replace," and each page states it in fuller words.

For recall 24-031: "Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled Lenovo USB-C Laptop Power Banks and contact Lenovo for a free replacement as well as instructions for properly disposing of lithium-ion batteries according to local and state regulations."

For recall 07-118: "Consumers should stop using the recalled batteries and contact Lenovo for additional information and to receive a free replacement battery. Consumers should use only ThinkPad batteries obtained from either Lenovo or an authorized reseller."

In both records the remedy runs through Lenovo directly. Each CPSC page lists Lenovo's consumer contact details: for 24-031, a toll-free number, the email address recalls@lenovo.com and a Lenovo support webpage, with a note that the telephone number was updated on 7/28/2025; for 07-118, a telephone number and a Lenovo battery program webpage. The 24-031 page also points to a CPSC form for anyone "experiencing issues with a recall remedy" or who believes "a company is being non-responsive to your remedy request."

Under 15 U.S.C. § 2064, a notice required under a CPSC order generally includes, among other items, "any remedy available to a consumer," "any action a consumer must take to obtain a remedy," and the contact information needed to get it.

A replacement addresses the product going forward. It does not answer what happened to someone hurt before or after hearing of the recall. If that describes your situation, the questions shift from the recall process to the law of injury, which the next sections take up.

Incidents the CPSC Pages Report

Recall 24-031 states: "The firm has received one report of a fire causing minimal property damage. No injuries have been reported."

Recall 07-118 states: "Lenovo has received four reports of batteries overheating and damaging the notebook. This caused damage to the notebook computers, minor property damage and, in one case, minor eye irritation to one consumer."

These lines are reports the firm received, as each notice describes them. An incident report in a recall notice does not establish what caused the event, does not prove the product was defective, and is not a finding of liability. The count reflects what the notice states as of its date; it is not presented as a full record of every event involving the product.

The same federal statute lists, among the items a notice generally includes, "The number and a description of any injuries or deaths associated with the product, the ages of any individuals injured or killed, and the dates on which the Commission received information about such injuries or deaths." That is why incident lines appear in notices like these, and why they are worth reading for exactly what they say. Records like the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall or Apple battery overheating records follow the same pattern. If your own incident is not among the counts, that alone does not mean it falls outside the record; the counts reflect what was reported as of the notice date.

What a Recall Does and Does Not Decide If You Were Hurt

For a person burned, a parent whose child was hurt, or a family after a house fire, the recall can feel like the answer. In legal terms it is one record among many.

Product liability is the body of law that asks whether a product had a defect, in its design, its manufacture or its warnings, that caused an injury. Each kind points to a different question about the device in your situation. A design defect is a flaw in how a product was conceived that can make the whole line unsafe, so the question is about every unit. A manufacturing defect is a flaw introduced in production that makes a specific unit differ from its intended design, so the question is about the one device involved. A failure to warn is the absence of adequate instructions or warnings about a product's risks, so the question is what the user was told.

The CPSC's reporting regulation uses a similar idea for its own 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," and the regulation notes that a defect "can also occur in a product's contents, construction, finish, packaging, warnings, and/or instructions." That definition guides when a firm reports to the CPSC; it does not decide an injury claim. For someone who was hurt, the regulatory meaning and the legal question in a lawsuit are related but separate.

A recall is not a finding that a product caused any particular injury or that a manufacturer is liable in any particular case. State law governs most product liability claims, and limitation periods, fault rules and damages rules differ from state to state. A statute of limitations is the period within which a legal claim must be filed, and it varies by state and by the type of claim.

If you were hurt, the records that usually matter include medical records, photographs and video of the product and the scene, the product itself, purchase receipts or order history, and any incident or fire reports. An attorney can help sort out how those records, the recall notice and the state's law fit together.

If You Are Weighing a Claim: Questions That Tend to Come First

The practical questions after a battery fire tend to come in a familiar order. Was the device covered by either recall, by model and serial number? Is the injury documented in medical records? Is the device, or what remains of it, still available? Where and when did it happen, and which state's law may apply?

What a claim has to show is set by the law, not by the recall. In a negligence framework, that generally means a duty, a breach of that duty, causation and damages. In a product liability framework, it generally means a defect and proof that the defect caused the injury. Whether those elements are met depends on the facts. No recall, incident report or injury alone establishes them.

If a family member died after a battery fire, the claim the law recognizes is wrongful death, brought by a family member or an estate when a person dies as a result of another party's conduct. State law governs it, so who in your family may bring it and what it may cover depend on where it happened.

The categories of damages the law may allow also depend on the state and the facts. They can include medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering and, where a death occurred, wrongful-death damages. None of that predicts what any case involves.

Once the records are clearer, a conversation can help sort out which questions matter in a given situation. If you would like to talk it through, you may want to consider requesting a case evaluation.