Kyocera Wireless Corp., along with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, is recalling 1 million cell-phone batteries, pointing to concerns that some of the batteries supplied by the manufacturer may be counterfeit.
The batteries, manufactured by El Paso, Texas-based Hecmma Group, are included in the Kyocera Slider, K400 and 3200 Series cell phones. The phones are sold through Alltel Corp., Cricket Communications, MetroPCS, U.S. Cellular Corp. and Verizon Wireless stores.
The company said the batteries could short circuit, overheat and possibly burn consumers. So far, Kyocera has received two reports of battery failures that led to minor burn injuries and eight reports that have resulted in smoke and property damage.
Kyocera suggested consumers immediately stop using the recalled batteries, which will be replaced free by the company.
The recall is not a first for Kyocera, which in January recalled 140,000 batteries used in its 7135 smart phones. Those batteries, manufactured by Hong Kong-based Coslight International Group, were recalled for similar reasons and replaced by Kyocera.
