【2013 Archives】

Another day013 Archives another gadget recall.

Working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Amazon's recalled six of its own AmazonBasics portable battery banks over "risk of overheating" that could "cause the power bank to overheat or melt, presenting a fire hazard."

According to an email sent out to customers and obtained by Mashable, if you purchased an AmazonBasics Power Bank battery sold between December 2014 and July 2017, you should stop using it immediately, return it, and get a refund.

An Amazon spokesperson emailed Mashable the following confirmation for the voluntary recall:

"Confirming that we are voluntarily recalling select AmazonBasics Portable Power Banks in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. All customers who purchased these products have been notified and are instructed to contact Amazon at (855) 215-5134 or visit https://amazonpowerbank.expertinquiry.com for more information and product return instructions.

The specific power bank models (now pulled from Amazon) are listed below.

Amazon didn't provide any further details on why it was recalling the portable battery banks. It's not unusual for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to be recalled over "overheating" risks. Earlier this year, HP recalled tens of thousands of laptop batteries that were also prone to overheating.

As we've learned over the years -- the hoverboard explosions in 2015 and Galaxy Note 7 disaster in 2016 taught us much about lithium-ion batteries -- there could be any number of reasons why Amazon's recalling the battery banks, including but not limited to poor battery insulation or defective battery design.

For everyone's safety, you should definitely follow Amazon's instructions and return the defective battery banks if you own them.