Roughly 77,000 HotHands Rechargeable Hand Warmers sold in the United States are under recall because the lithium-ion battery and electrical components inside can overheat and ignite. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission posted the recall on Oct. 1, 2026, and the remedy is a full refund. No incidents or injuries have been reported.
The recalled units are the battery-powered, USB-C rechargeable version of the brand, white with orange trim and sold in pairs. The familiar single-use, air-activated HotHands packets are not part of it.
The CPSC recall notice, number 27-011, states the hazard plainly: “The lithium-ion battery and electrical components in the recalled hand warmers can overheat and ignite, posing a risk of serious injury from fire and burn hazards.” Under incidents and injuries, the commission lists “None.” The notice counts about 77,000 units in the U.S. and notes that “about 72 were sold in Canada.”
Which HotHands warmers are covered
The CPSC describes the recalled product as white-and-orange hand warmers sold in packs of two that join magnetically, with a USB-C charging port, adjustable heat settings, LED indicator lights and a silicone lanyard. Per the notice, “Model number ‘H163650’ and the batch number are on the hand warmer’s underside.”
The warmers were sold “at Bass Pro Shops, Meijer, Target and The Home Depot and other stores nationwide and online, including Amazon.com from July 2025 through August 2026,” according to the CPSC. The distributor is Kobayashi Consumer Products, LLC, of Dalton, Georgia, and the units were made in China.
Kobayashi’s own HotHands recall notice says the company is acting “out of an abundance of caution and in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,” and states that the recall does not include HotHands air-activated hand warmers.
How the refund and disposal work
The CPSC tells owners to “stop using the recalled hand warmers immediately and contact Kobayashi for a full refund.” The process runs through a claim: owners mark the warmer with the word “Recalled” and their claim number in permanent marker, then submit a photo showing the marked unit, the model number and the batch number. Kobayashi’s page adds that owners should not dispose of the warmer until the claim is processed.
Disposal carries its own instructions, because the battery is the hazard. The CPSC notice says: “Do not throw this recalled lithium-ion battery or device in the trash, the general recycling stream (e.g., street-level or curbside recycling bins), or used battery recycling boxes found at various retail and home improvement stores.” Owners are told to call their municipal household hazardous waste collection center first to confirm it accepts recalled lithium-ion batteries. The Environmental Protection Agency’s guidance on used lithium-ion batteries explains the reason: a battery thrown in the trash or a curbside bin “may become damaged or crushed in transport or from processing and sorting equipment, creating a fire hazard.”
Kobayashi can be reached at 866-534-9986 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, per the CPSC.
A second rechargeable warmer recall the same day
The HotHands notice was not the only one of its kind on Oct. 1. The CPSC also posted recall 27-009 for Gobi Heat Rechargeable Hand Warmers, about 5,500 units sold on GobiHeat.com from October 2024 through August 2026, citing the same overheating and ignition hazard. That notice, too, lists no incidents or injuries, and its remedy is a refund. The Gobi Heat warmers are black and gray, with model number “UT3053” on the underside, according to the commission.
Rechargeable hand warmers have drawn CPSC attention before. On July 30, 2026, the commission announced the recall of about 1.5 million OCOOPA rechargeable hand warmers, a different brand and product, after that company received reports of units overheating. The HotHands and Gobi Heat recalls involve no reported incidents.
For owners of the HotHands model H163650, the next step is the claim process on Kobayashi’s recall page, which ends in a refund once the marked unit is photographed and the claim is complete.
Top image: Cylindrical lithium-ion cells of the general type used in rechargeable devices. Not a recalled HotHands product. Image Credit: Sevenethics — CC0 / Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Combat Rated editors prior to publication.