HP, maker of PCs recently agreed to pay $425,000 in response to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission's assertion that the maker of computers failed to inform the agency about defective lithium-ion batteries used in its laptop computers. In addition to the laptops, the batteries were also included in spare parts and other accessories.

The law makes it mandatory for any entity making, distributing or settling a product that is likely defective, to report the product to the CPSC within 24 hours.

While agreeing to pay the penalty, HP has not admitted to the assertions made by the CPSC. It claimed that was not aware of the problems with the batteries and that there was never "an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death." Because of these failures to know, it believes it did not violate any laws.

According to the agency, despite conducting tests on the batteries over the course of a couple months, the computer company failed to report any problems to the CPSC as is required under federal law. The batteries reportedly could overheat which is a fire hazard. According to the CPSC, HP was aware of around 22 occasions in which the battery malfunctioned. Two people were hurt; one of whom reportedly sought medical treatment.

The CPSC was not informed of the problems by the company until July 2008 when even more of the problem had been reported. Three months later, HP recalled 32,000 laptop batteries. Almost three years later, that number had nearly tripled, to 90,000.

Source: Tech Spot, "HP pays $425,000 to settle civil suit over defective batteries," Matthew DeCarlo, Jan. 24, 2012