Columbia Sportswear recalls jacket heater batteries for overheating danger

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall notice for rechargeable batteries sold with certain Columbia Sportswear winter jackets. The batteries, which are used to power the jackets' internal heaters, have a defect which may cause them to overheat and pose a fire hazard.

The recall affects about 440 Omni-Heat lithium-polymer rechargeable batteries sold with the following Columbia jackets: Omni-Heat Electric Wader Widgeon, Omni-Heat Electric Big Game and Omni-Heat Gale Warning Interchange. Each jacket came with two batteries and were sold from July to September at outdoor and sporting goods dealers nationwide as well as Columbia's online shop for about $900 to $1,200.

The batteries, which are marked with "Columbia" on top, "OMNI-HEAT" on the bottom, and "Part: 054978-001" on the side, were also sold separately for $79 on Columbia's online store.

The Columbia Sportswear Company has received one report of an overheating Omni-Heat battery from its distribution center in France. There have been no further incidents or report of injuries, says the CPSC.

Columbia jacket owners are warned to immediately remove the batteries from their winter jackets and contact Columbia to return the faulty batteries for free replacements.

For more information, consumers can contact Columbia Sportswear's through its toll-free customer support line (800-622-6953), e-mail (Columbia at custhelp.com) or via the Web: www.columbia.com/Recall.

2011 Battery Pack Recall [Columbia Sportswear]
Columbia Sportswear Recalls Batteries Sold With Jackets Due To Fire Hazard [CPSC]

—Paul Eng