Lithium-Ion Battery Fires Statistics: 205 CPSC Recalls and 1,385 NYC Fire Investigations

This month in brief

• CPSC has issued 205 recall records since 2002 where a rechargeable lithium battery poses a fire, burn or explosion hazard, covering about 24.8 million U.S. units.
• Consumer electronics hold 69.4% of recalled units; micromobility products hold 5.7%, mostly hoverboards.
• Recall activity is at its highest sustained level: 65 records dated 2024 to 2026, 31.7% of the 25-year total.
• Eight recalls of 1 million units or more hold 49.0% of recalled units; the median recall covers 11,000 units.
• New York City fire marshals coded 1,385 fires to lithium-ion batteries from July 2021 to September 2026, 292 of them in 2025.
• For January 1 to July 21, 2026 the city logged 235 such fires against 138 a year earlier, +70.3%.
• FDNY-announced lithium-ion battery deaths fell from 18 in 2023 to 6 in 2024 and 1 in 2025.
• Structure fires fell 13.4% from 2023 to 2025 while vehicle, street and outdoor fires rose 36.8%.

Lithium-ion battery fires in CPSC recall records, 2002 to 2026

We read every record in the CPSC Recall API and kept the 205 where CPSC blames a rechargeable lithium battery for a fire, burn, explosion or overheating hazard. Recall volume has two peaks: the 2016 hoverboard wave and a run of power bank, phone accessory and household product recalls since 2024.

The first in-scope record is a September 17, 2002 recall of about 2,000 lithium-ion batteries in EV Global Motors e-bikes. The busiest year is 2016, with 26 records, 12 of them hoverboards. Records dated 2024 to 2026 number 65, or 31.7% of all 205 records in 25 years (CPSC Recall API, pulled 2026-10-27).

Units move in steps, not lines. In 2006, the Dell (2.7 million) and Apple (1.1 million) laptop battery recalls pushed the year to 4,337,800 U.S. units; laptop recalls from 2005 to 2007 total 4,678,800 units. In 2021 the Verizon Ellipsis Jetpack hotspot recall (2.5 million) did the same.

In-scope recall record: A CPSC Recall API record whose hazard is fire, burn, explosion or overheating and is attributed to a rechargeable lithium battery (lithium-ion, lithium polymer or lithium iron phosphate), including the pack's own wiring and circuitry, where CPSC names the lithium chemistry. Lithium coin cells, lithium primary cells and external chargers are excluded.

Phones, laptops and power banks carry most recalled units; e-bikes carry few

Consumer electronics account for 95 records and 69.4% of recalled units. Micromobility (e-bikes, e-scooters, hoverboards, e-skateboards and e-unicycles) accounts for 37 records and 5.7% of units, so 12.1 consumer electronics units were recalled for every micromobility unit.

Hoverboards make up most of the micromobility units: 24 records and about 1.34 million units, led by the July 6, 2016 joint recall of about 501,000 hoverboards by 10 firms after at least 99 incident reports (CPSC recall 16-218). E-bikes and e-bike batteries account for 10 records and 63,520 units; the largest is the 2025 VIVI battery recall of about 24,000 units.

Power banks, battery cases and portable chargers have the most records of any type (38), and 24 of them are dated 2024 to 2026, covering about 3.41 million units. The largest is Anker's June 12, 2025 recall of about 1,158,000 power banks after 19 reports of fires and explosions (CPSC).

Eight recalls of a million units or more hold 49.0% of recalled units

The median recall covers 11,000 U.S. units. Recalls under 10,000 units are 45.8% of records but about 1.2% of units, so unit totals depend on a handful of large recalls.

The eight recalls of 1 million units or more are Dell (2006), Verizon (2021), OCOOPA rechargeable hand warmers (2026), Good Earth Lighting rechargeable lights (2024), Anker power banks (2025), Apple (2006), Samsung Galaxy Note7 (2016) and Fitbit Ionic smartwatches (2022). The OCOOPA record lists 1,480 overheating reports, 15 fires and 350 burn injuries (CPSC recall, July 30, 2026).

How CPSC words the hazard: fire, burn and explosion

CPSC names fire in 193 of 205 records. In 200 records the hazard statement names the battery or cell itself; the other five describe the product overheating while charging or in use.

Explosion or bursting wording appears in 34 records, 22 of them hoverboards ("smoking, catching fire and/or exploding"). Twelve records name a burn hazard without naming fire, such as the 2022 Fitbit Ionic recall of about 1 million smartwatches.

Four in-scope records report deaths in the CPSC incident text: the Jetson Rogue hoverboards (two sisters, April 1, 2022, recall 23-165), Good Earth Lighting rechargeable lights (one death, recall 24-254), the HALO 1000 portable power station (one death in June 2022, recall 24-350) and OCOOPA hand warmers (one death in February 2026, recall 26-659).

E-bike battery fires and other micromobility: the federal record

Recalls are a small part of the federal micromobility record. CPSC's 2026 proposed rule counts 227 battery incidents from 2019 to 2023, and its staff link 24 deaths to specific e-bikes, e-scooters and other micromobility products.

The CPSC proposed rule published June 24, 2026 (91 FR 38162) lists 227 incidents involving fires, explosions, gas releases, burns, overheating and smoke inhalation from 2019 through 2023. Ninety incidents are associated with 39 deaths and 181 injuries. Fire incidents are 195 of the 227, and account for all 39 deaths and 174 of the 181 injuries. Comments closed on August 24, 2026.

CPSC economists counted 24 of the 39 deaths as addressable by the rule because they trace to a specific product: 7 eBike, 9 eScooter and 8 other micromobility deaths. They also note that lithium-ion battery fires have no product category in NEISS, so fire incidents may be undercounted (CPSC preliminary regulatory analysis).

New York City: 1,385 fire-marshal cases coded to lithium-ion batteries

The FDNY Bureau of Fire Investigations data codes 1,385 closed fire investigations to a lithium-ion battery cause from July 24, 2021 to September 2, 2026. Yearly counts rose from 219 in 2022 to 292 in 2025, and the lithium-ion share of all investigated fires rose from 3.70% to 5.14%.

Year-over-year growth slowed after 2023: +22.4% in 2023, +4.1% in 2024 and +4.7% in 2025. 2026 breaks that pattern. For incidents dated January 1 to July 21, the file holds 235 lithium-ion battery fires in 2026 against 138 in 2025, a change of +70.3%. Those counts match the 235 and 138 that FDNY's Chief Fire Marshal gave at a July 22, 2026 press conference (amNewYork).

Our counts also track FDNY's annual statements within two fires: 268 in 2023 (FDNY: 268) and 279 in 2024 (FDNY: 277), per the FDNY release of January 8, 2025. For 2022 the file holds 219 against 220 investigations reported from FDNY data.

Fires kept rising while announced deaths fell

FDNY-announced lithium-ion battery deaths peaked at 18 in 2023, fell to 6 in 2024 and to 1 in 2025, while the number of investigated fires grew each year. That moved the ratio from 14.9 fires per death in 2023 to 292 in 2025.

FDNY reported 18 deaths in 2023 and 6 in 2024, a 67 percent decrease (FDNY, January 8, 2025). Its 2025 year-end release (December 16, 2025) reported one death to date in 2025, a further fall of 83.3%. The first 2026 death came in a June 26 fire in a Queens basement apartment, caused by a lithium-ion battery charging in the kitchen (FDNY, July 22, 2026).

The shift in where fires start is one candidate explanation the data can show. Structure fires coded to lithium-ion batteries fell 13.4% from 2023 to 2025 while vehicle, street and outdoor fires rose 36.8%. FDNY officials said in July 2026 that more people are storing batteries outside (amNewYork); the data cannot test that claim.

Where the fires start: apartments, vehicles and the street

Residential buildings account for 45.8% of New York City's coded lithium-ion battery fires since 2021, and multiple dwellings alone for 34.5%. Brooklyn has the most cases (462).

Multiple dwellings, the apartment buildings covered by our apartment and HOA fire safety guide, account for 478 fires. Commercial structures account for 132; stock rooms and storage are covered in the warehouse guide. Vehicles account for 210 fires.

Fires cluster in the warmer months. From 2022 to 2025, July to October hold 42.0% of coded fires, against 33.3% if fires were spread evenly; July alone has 118 and February 60.

What the two record sets leave out

Recalls measure products a firm agreed to pull, and the BFI file measures fires a marshal investigated and closed. Neither counts every battery fire.

• CPSC unilateral warnings are not recalls and are not in the Recall API. The proposed rule lists 9 such press releases about micromobility products from 2016 to November 2024.
• For 26 battery fire recalls in laptops, phones and power banks, CPSC never names the chemistry. Adding them raises the total to 231 records and about 28.3 million units (table CSV t6).
• The BFI file holds closed and completed cases only, so recent months will grow as cases close.
• Recalled units are not fires. A recall of 1.5 million hand warmers and a fire in one apartment are different measures.
• Fire extinguishers, smoke alarms and other fire safety equipment are a different product scope, covered in our fire extinguisher and smoke alarm recall registry.

Momentum and share analysis

Download the calculations (CSV)

Lithium battery fire and burn recall registry (CPSC records, newest first)

Checked monthly against the CPSC Recall API. Last checked 2026-10-27. Entries are neutral records of public data; each links to its source record.

Findings to track

1. CPSC recall records name a rechargeable lithium battery as the source of a fire, burn or explosion hazard in 205 recalls from September 17, 2002 to October 1, 2026 (United States).^[1]
2. Those 205 recalls cover about 24,802,125 U.S. units, plus 270,934 units stated for Canada.^[1]
3. Phones, tablets, wearables and accessories account for about 6.05 million recalled U.S. units; laptops and laptop batteries for 5.46 million (2002 to 2026).^[1]
4. Micromobility products account for 37 recalls and 1,421,890 U.S. units, 5.7% of the total; e-bikes and e-bike batteries account for 63,520.^[1]
5. Power bank, battery case and portable charger recalls number 38, and 24 of them are dated 2024 to 2026 (United States).^[1]
6. The largest single recall is Dell's August 15, 2006 notebook battery recall of about 2.7 million U.S. battery packs.^[8]
7. Four recall records from 2023 to 2026 describe five deaths: two in the Jetson Rogue hoverboard fire, and one each for Good Earth Lighting, HALO 1000 and OCOOPA products.^{[13][15][16][10]}
8. CPSC counted 227 micromobility lithium-ion battery incidents from 2019 to 2023, 90 of them with 39 deaths and 181 injuries (United States).^[6]
9. CPSC staff traced 24 micromobility fire deaths from 2019 to 2023 to specific products: 7 eBike, 9 eScooter and 8 other micromobility.^[7]
10. FDNY fire marshals coded 292 New York City fires to lithium-ion batteries in 2025, up +4.7% from 279 in 2024.^[2]
11. Lithium-ion batteries were the cause in 5.14% of all New York City fires investigated by fire marshals in 2025, up from 3.70% in 2022.^[2]
12. From January 1 to July 21, 2026, New York City logged 235 lithium-ion battery fires against 138 in the same period of 2025 (+70.3%).^[2][19]
13. FDNY-announced lithium-ion battery deaths in New York City fell from 18 in 2023 to 6 in 2024 and 1 in 2025.^[3][4]
14. Residential buildings account for 45.8% of New York City's coded lithium-ion battery fires from 2021 to 2026; multiple dwellings for 34.5%.^[2]

Frequently asked questions

Related guides, services and research

• Apartment and HOA fire safety requirements
• Warehouse fire safety requirements
• Special hazard suppression inspection
• Most Common Fire Code Violations
• Nursing Home Fire Safety Deficiencies
• Workplace Fire Deaths in the U.S.
• Fire Alarm Technician Salary by State and Metro

Methodology

Recalls. We downloaded the full CPSC Recall API on 2026-10-27 (10,058 records, latest RecallDate 2026-10-22) and scanned the title, description, hazard and product fields for lithium, li-ion and lithium polymer wording, then kept records whose title or hazard names fire, burn, explosion, overheating, melting or smoke. Each candidate was read by hand. We excluded lithium coin and button cell ingestion recalls, lithium primary (non-rechargeable) cells, external chargers, failures in other components (motor controllers, inverter boards, circuit boards outside the pack) and smoke alarms; reasons are in excluded.md. Records were de-duplicated by RecallNumber.

Chemistry. A record is in scope only when CPSC names the lithium chemistry in the API record or on the recall page (two pages checked this way), or, for the Gyroor e-bike recall, lists the recall in its micromobility lithium-ion rulemaking. 26 battery fire recalls in laptops, phones and power banks where CPSC never names the chemistry are kept as a sensitivity set (t6), outside headline totals.

Units. Rule 1: a number followed by 'in the U.S.' or 'in the United States' is the U.S. figure. Rule 2: otherwise the first number in the NumberOfUnits field is the U.S. figure, as CPSC lists U.S. units first. 'About', 'Approximately', 'Up to' and 'More than' are dropped; 'million' multiplies by one million. Numbers followed by 'in Canada' are stored separately. Re-announcements with the same units (Columbia 2013, Yoto 2024) are not added again; the 2016 Samsung expansion adds only the 900,000 new phones. Two API records carried another recall's hazard text (Transpro scooters, Arizer Solo III); we used the recall page.

Product types and hazards. Product types were coded from titles and product names with hand overrides in scripts/curation.py; battery-pack-only recalls sit with the product they power. Hazard classes come from the CPSC hazard statement and title: fire with explosion, fire with burn, fire only, burn without fire named.

New York City. We downloaded all 67,260 rows of the FDNY Bureau of Fire Investigations Fire Causes dataset (NYC Open Data ii3r-svjz, rows updated 2026-09-14) and counted rows with cause 'Lithium Ion Battery' by case year, incident classification, borough and month. The file holds closed and completed cases only and BFI investigates a subset of all fires, so counts are a floor and the latest months will rise. Structures are incident classes containing 'Structure' plus garages, hotels, schools, nursing homes and public hallways; vehicles, streets and outdoor are vehicle, street, sidewalk, outside rubbish, transit, boat, aircraft, brush and park; 'Other' stays separate.

Deaths and conflicts. Deaths are FDNY announcements: 2023 and 2024 from the January 8, 2025 release, 2025 from the December 16, 2025 release ('to date'), 2022 from FDNY data reported by Bicycle Retailer, and 2021 derived as 10 combined 2021 to 2022 deaths minus 6 in 2022. Where FDNY annual fire counts differ from our BFI counts (277 vs 279 in 2024), we show both and use BFI for trends.

Derived metrics are listed with formulas and fact sheet rows in derived_metrics.csv and reproduced by scripts/ (pull_and_build.py, compute.py, build_report.py). UK figures are insurer FOI compilations reported by trade press and are not comparable with U.S. counts. This tracker is checked monthly against the CPSC Recall API and annually against the BFI file. Last updated 2026-10-27.

This report presents published data with its limitations. It is not legal, engineering, financial or investment advice. Requirements depend on the code edition your state and local fire marshal have adopted; confirm with your authority having jurisdiction.

Sources, ranked by quality

Tier 1: primary and official sources (19)

• [1] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. CPSC Recalls API (Recall Retrieval Web Service), full JSON pull of 10,058 records. Recall dates 1973-06-08 to 2026-10-22. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [2] Fire Department of the City of New York, via NYC Open Data. Bureau of Fire Investigations: Fire Causes (dataset ii3r-svjz). Case years 2016 to 2026, closed cases, rows updated 2026-09-14. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [3] Fire Department of the City of New York. FDNY Commissioner Robert S. Tucker Announces Significant Progress in the Battle Against Lithium-Ion Battery Fires. Released 2025-01-08; covers 2023 and 2024. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [4] Fire Department of the City of New York. The FDNY Announces 2025 End-of-Year Accomplishments. Released 2025-12-16; covers 2023 to 2025. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [5] Fire Department of the City of New York. FDNY shares lithium-ion battery safety tips following fatal Queens fire. Released 2026-07-22. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [6] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Federal Register. Safety Standard for Lithium-Ion Batteries Used in Micromobility Products and Electrical Systems of Micromobility Products Containing Such Batteries (proposed rule, 91 FR 38162). Published 2026-06-24; incident data 2019 to 2023, recalls 2016-01-01 to 2024-11-30. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [7] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Directorate for Economic Analysis. Safety Standard for Lithium-Ion Batteries Used in Micromobility Products: Preliminary Regulatory Analysis. Memorandum dated September 2025; deaths 2019 to 2023. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [8] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Dell Announces Recall of Notebook Computer Batteries Due To Fire Hazard (06-231). Recall date 2006-08-15. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [9] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Verizon Recalls 2.5 Million Ellipsis Jetpack Mobile Hotspots Imported by Franklin Wireless (21-106). Recall date 2021-04-08. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [10] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. OCOOPA Direct Recalls 1.5 Million Rechargeable Hand Warmers (26-659). Recall date 2026-07-30. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [11] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. More than One Million Anker Power Banks Recalled Due to Fire and Burn Hazards (25-338). Recall date 2025-06-12. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [12] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Samsung Recalls Galaxy Note7 Smartphones Due to Serious Fire and Burn Hazards (16-266). Recall date 2016-09-15. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [13] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Jetson Electric Bikes Recalls 42-Volt Rogue Self-Balancing Scooters/Hoverboards (23-165). Recall date 2023-03-30. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [14] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Self-Balancing Scooters/Hoverboards Recalled by 10 Firms Due to Fire Hazard (16-218). Recall date 2016-07-06. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [15] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Good Earth Lighting Recalls More than 1.2 Million Rechargeable Integrated Lights (24-254). Recall date 2024-06-06. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [16] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. HALO 1000 Portable Power Stations Recalled Due to Serious Fire and Burn Hazards (24-350). Recall date 2024-08-29. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [17] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Greenworks Tools Recalls 24V and 48V Kobalt Yard Power Tools with USB-C Batteries (26-611). Recall date 2026-07-09. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [18] National Fire Protection Association. NFPA 855, Standard for the Installation of Stationary Energy Storage Systems (standard development page). Current edition 2026. Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [23] U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Federal Register. Safety Standard for Lithium-Ion Batteries Used in Micromobility Products: announcement of opportunity for oral presentation of comments (91 FR 63208). Published 2026-10-05; virtual meeting 2026-10-21. Accessed 2026-10-27.

Tier 3: journalism and expert commentary (4)

• [19] amNewYork. NYC sees a 70% increase in lithium-ion battery fires in 2026, FDNY says. Published 2026-07-22 (FDNY press conference). Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [20] Bicycle Retailer and Industry News. FDNY: More deaths linked to lithium-ion battery fires than all last year. Published 2023-06-05 (FDNY data for 2021 and 2022). Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [21] CIR Magazine. E-bikes drive lithium battery fires to record levels. Published 2025-05-27 (QBE FOI data, UK, 2022 to 2024). Accessed 2026-10-27.
• [22] Fleet News. E-bikes drive lithium-ion battery fire increase. Published 2025-05-28 (QBE FOI data, UK, 2022 to 2024). Accessed 2026-10-27.