Bose Recalls 670,000 Speaker Batteries Over Fire Risk
Bose is recalling about 670,000 lithium-ion battery packs used in its S1 Pro and S1 Pro+ portable speakers, after reports that the packs can overheat and catch fire.
The recall, announced on Thursday, 5 November, covers roughly 634,759 packs sold in the United States and about 35,400 in Canada, according to the CPSC’s announcement. Engadget reported that the packs were sold with the speakers or separately as accessories and replacements.
Bose has received seven reports of the battery packs melting, smoking or catching fire, including six cases in which property was damaged. No injuries have been reported.
Which packs are affected
The recall covers only the removable battery packs for the S1 Pro and S1 Pro+ portable Bluetooth speaker systems, which Bose markets as portable PA speakers for musicians, presenters and small events. The speakers themselves are not recalled.
Owners should check the 17-digit serial number printed on the bottom of the battery pack. A pack is included in the recall if its serial number begins with one of the following: 083723, 078352, 084105, 078591, 078592, 084106 or 086409.
The affected packs were sold from December 2017 through July 2026 at Bose stores and website, Best Buy, Amazon, Walmart.com and other retailers. The battery packs alone sold for between $100 and $160, while the speaker systems with a pack cost about $700.
What owners should do
Bose is offering free replacement battery packs to owners of affected units. Customers can register the serial number of their pack on Bose’s recall page to arrange one.
In the meantime, owners should stop using the recalled pack immediately, remove it from the speaker and keep using the speaker on mains power. The CPSC advises against putting an old lithium-ion pack in the bin or in a shop’s battery box; a household hazardous waste centre can take it instead.
The recall is the latest in a run of battery safety actions this year, and a reminder of how quickly a single component can turn into a large-scale problem. Lithium-ion packs are now in almost everything from phones to power tools, and regulators have grown stricter about how manufacturers handle overheating reports. The recent salmonella oyster outbreak showed the same pattern in food safety: once a hazard is confirmed, the response has to be fast, public and easy for consumers to act on.
A costly lesson for Bose
For Bose, the recall is a reputational blow as much as a financial one. The S1 Pro line is a staple of the company’s professional audio range, used by gigging musicians and small venues across the US and Canada. A recall covering nearly nine years of sales means many of the packs are long out of warranty and sitting in cupboards, studios and tour vans — exactly the places where a faulty battery can go unnoticed until it fails.
The company has not said how much the replacement programme will cost. Product recalls of this scale tend to run into the tens of millions of dollars once replacement units, shipping and administration are counted, as 3M’s $7.35 billion settlement over forever chemicals showed on a far larger scale.
The CPSC, for its part, has been stepping up enforcement on lithium-ion products, which have caused a string of fires in homes and on aircraft in recent years. Its advice to consumers is consistent: stop using a recalled battery, do not charge it, and do not throw it away with ordinary rubbish.
Owners who are unsure whether their pack is affected can check the serial number against the list above and, if it matches, contact Bose for a free replacement.
