Panasonic expands fire hazard recall for tablet batteries

Panasonic Australia has expanded a fire hazard recall for battery packs sold for its CF-H2 tablet computers.

The company is now recalling all CF-H2 battery packs sold in Australia from June 2011 to June 2014. The announcement expands on a previous product recall for the same battery pack that applied for a shorter sales period of June 2011 to May 2012.

The vendor announced that "there is a rare possibility the battery pack could overheat and cause smoke or may ignite".

"This poses a risk of fire or a burn hazard to consumers and to the CF-H2 Panasonic tablet. There have been no reports of fires or injuries in Australia," announced Panasonic Australia.

Panasonic said battery packs will be replaced for no charge and is "working to ensure this extended recall is completed as quickly as possible".

The recall applies to battery packs with model number CF-VZSU53AW and lot numbers beginning with B, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7, C8, C93, C94, C96, C9C, C9J and C9K. Panasonic said that affected tablet owners should immediately turn off the tablet, remove the battery pack and only use the device through a power cord.

An estimated 1602 tablet computers and 840 battery packs purchased separately as accessories are affected by the expanded recall.