<i>Lenovo has received two reports of the battery packs overheating, resulting in damage to the computer, battery pack and nearby property. No injuries have been reported.</i><p>Given the ubiquity of social media today, I find it odd that whoever made these "two reports" didn't publicise them much. This is probably a very isolated and minor incident, so Lenovo are just trying to avoid a PR backlash.<p><i>Consumers can continue to use their ThinkPad notebook without the battery pack by plugging in the AC adapter and power cord.</i><p>If Apple tried to recall batteries for its computers these days, it would be quite a different story...
Two things: (1) Lenovo does provide a manual web interface, <a href="https://lenovobattery2014.orderz.com/" rel="nofollow">https://lenovobattery2014.orderz.com/</a>, to verify whether this affects any equipment you own...their default tool involves the end user downloading and installing a Microsoft Windows executable, which does not work if you have an alternate operating system installed; and (2) even though I have a Lenovo X201 laptop with a "42T4695" in the battery pack bar code, since Lenovo manufactured it in July 2010--outside the range of October 2010-April 2011--I am not eligible for replacement (a bit disappointing, but it seems reasonable, to me).