Kyocera Wireless Corp. (KWC, San Diego, CA), a global manufacturer of CDMA wireless handsets and telemetry modules, announced a voluntary and precautionary recall of potentially fraudulent batteries in its KE/KX 400 Series, 3200 Series and Slider Series phones. This recall is limited solely to cell phone batteries, as there are no defects with the Kyocera phones.
Kyocera Wireless claims that its quality control processes revealed that a battery supplier, since terminated, intentionally provided KWC with batteries containing unapproved battery cells. The supplier's deceit resulted in fraudulent batteries shipping with Kyocera phones and being sold as accessories. The company further claims that despite terminating the supplier's services, the supplier continued to make the fraudulent batteries and sold them into the gray (after) market. The counterfeits feature Kyocera's logo and are designed to look identical to legitimate Kyocera-approved batteries. Since the supplier is headquartered in the US, KWC is actively working with the US Federal Bureau of Investigations and Consumer Product Safety Commission to locate the counterfeit batteries, prosecute those involved and ensure they do not reach consumers.
The recall is focused only on batteries from this particular supplier and only affects the afore-mentioned phone models. The affected batteries are easily identified by product numbers and serial codes found on the battery label. The focus of the recall is on the phone models with the following batteries: Slider Series SE44/SE47 (Battery Product Number CV90-L305N-01), (Serial Code 01E0409 or lower); (Battery Product Number CV90-L305P-01), (Serial Code 01E0409 or lower); (Battery Product Number CV90-L305T-01), (Serial Code 01E0409 or lower); and (Battery Product Number CV90-L349T-01), (Serial Code 01E0409 or lower). The Phantom Series KE/KX400, ((Battery Product Number CV90-K3040-03), (all Serial Numbers); The Rave and Blade Series, ((Battery Product Number CV90-K3040-09), (all Serial Numbers); (Battery Product Number CV90-K3040-10), (all Serial Numbers); and (Battery Product Number CV90-K3040-11), (Serial Number 1104057 and lower). The 3200 Series 3225/3250, (Battery Product Number CV90-K3040-03), (all Serial Numbers); (Battery Product Number CV90-K3040-09), (all Serial Numbers); (Battery Product Number CV90-K3040-10), (all Serial Numbers); and (Battery Product Number CV90-K3040-11), (Serial Number 1104057 and lower).
For concerns and questions, contact KWC at (800) 866-559-3882, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (PT), Monday through Friday, or request a replacement battery online at http://www.kyocera-wireless.com/battery.html.
