Lenovo charger recall on the British Government website
The last place you want a lithium battery fire is in the confined space of an aircraft passenger cabin at 35,000ft
An AvSax lithium battery fire mitigation bag
A power bank has been urgently recalled amid fears it could burst into flames.
Lenovo wants customers to immediately stop using its USB-C laptop power banks made during a 6-month period between January 2022 and June 2022.
The Chinese company has revealed the cause of the problem which could cause the power banks to suddenly catch fire.
On its website Lenovo states: “Lenovo has determined that in a limited number of units the power bank’s internal screws can come loose, causing a short circuit and overheating the lithium-ion battery, posing a fire hazard.”
The British Government has also publicised the recall warning, revealing: “The product does not meet the requirements of the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016. Owners of affected products should stop using them immediately and disconnect the power bank from all devices.”
The recall is particularly good news for the airline industry which has seen a continual rise in the number of fires in personal electronic devices with battery packs and battery chargers the biggest culprits.
In the 465 verified lithium incidents in US airspace governed by the Federal Aviation Administration since 2006, battery packs accounted for 194 incidents, compared to 97 e-cigarette or vaping fires, 59 mobile phones and 57 laptops.
The problem is so serious that most airlines now include warnings about lithium batteries in their pre-flight safety briefings to passengers before the planes take off.
They warn that if their personal electronic device overheats or gets lost in the seat to tell cabin crew immediately. If the device such as a mobile phone slips into a seat and the chair is then moved, its mechanism could crush the phone, damaging the battery and setting it on fire.
When a lithium battery becomes faulty it goes into what’s known as thermal runaway and when this happens one cell in a battery can produce enough heat – up to 900°C (1652°F) – to cause adjacent cells to overheat. This can cause a lithium battery fire to flare repeatedly and they are then very difficult to put out which is why fire mitigation bags are so important, especially in the confined space of aircraft passenger cabins.
This is why more than 100 airlines worldwide now carry AvSax lithium battery mitigation bags on almost 17,000 passenger aircraft worldwide so they are ready to deal quickly and effectively with such incidents.
AvSax, which are made from military grade material, will contain the device even if it explodes.
They are made by Environmental Defence Systems Ltd based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, UK, and AvSax won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for their innovation, the highest accolade any business can get.
Anyone with one of the faulty power banks should go to this website for more information https://support.lenovo.com/gb/en/solutions/ht515669
