Battery Safety & Recall Support

How does Exponent's multidisciplinary approach provide objective insights for product safety and recall decisions?

Despite continuous improvements in energy storage technologies and safety standards, batteries do at times fail. For failures that may lead to injury, the stakes are even higher. There is growing precedent among government and regulatory bodies to hold business entities accountable for how they handle product failures and safety issues and whether prevention and response measures were in place. Increasingly, risk mitigation and forward-thinking product safety and compliance programs are vital to brand reputation.

At Exponent, we have helped resolve some of the most high-profile and high-stakes recalls in the history of commercial battery technologies. Through our multidisciplinary engineering expertise, knowledge of industry and product requirements, and deep understanding of foreseeable use/misuse scenarios, we offer clients the independent, objective scientific perspective needed to support legal and regulatory decision-making — both in designing programs that enable continuous safety and quality monitoring and in assessing potential product recalls. 

Battery safety and compliance programming

Exponent helps reduce the overall risk profile of our clients through customized battery safety and compliance programs. Exponent builds protocols that are precisely matched to the scope, volume, and complexity of each company's battery production or products, considering many factors, for example: 

• Enterprise quality and safety/compliance standards 
• Supplier selection and management
• Product qualification and certification test management 
• Safety and quality exceptions handling 
• Product tracing strategies and recall scope determination
• Communication/database management

Battery recall investigation support

A strong battery safety and compliance program can help manage a recall; however, most companies still require guidance related to technical and regulatory considerations. Exponent's approach is:  

• Rooted in science, informed by data. Our multidisciplinary engineering expertise is the foundation of our work, which we combine with complete battery testing, supply chain analysis, and advanced failure prediction modeling to create a dynamic view of the product's state. 
• Solution-oriented. We seek to determine the root causes of failures and make reasonable recommendations that can help limit the impact of a recall, whether due to a design flaw, improper manufacturing, unexpected use or wear, inadequate warning labels, or other causes. 
• Designed to enable decision-making. With the facts and expert advice in hand, our clients have what they need to navigate a potential recall or take corrective technical measures that satisfy regulatory requirements and address performance concerns.