Fire Risk Recall May Explain That Controversial Pixel 4a Battery Update

At the end of last month, The Google Pixel 4a got a software update that rendered the device nearly unusable for some people, for seemingly unknown reasons. The update included "battery management features" that left some people with phones that couldn't hold a charge for more than 30 minutes. Google explained the problems in a support document and offered a few solutions, but again, it didn't explain the root cause of the issue. But now, there appears to be one possible explanation for the problem—overheating batteries—as mentioned in a Pixel 4a recall issued in Australia, spotted first by Android Authority.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) issued the recall notice on March 7, saying in a supporting document that some Pixel 4a units are currently at risk of fire due to overheating batteries. The notice clarifies that this doesn't affect all Pixel 4a units and it goes on to say that if your device is unaffected by this issue, the January software update will have no impact on its battery or performance, implying that Google pushed out the update to reduce the risk of fire on impacted phone.

When Google issued the software update, its support document also mentioned that the software update will only update the battery management in certain devices. The company had additionally cited a potential degradation in lithium-ion batteries as a reason for the update.

If the ACCC's notice is accurate and overheating batteries are indeed the reason behind the January software update for the Pixel 4a, it could offer a potential explanation of why the update was rushed out so quickly. Usually, Pixel phones receive big software updates as a part of Pixel Drops that are released every few months. Outside of that, Google usually only issues stability and security updates that don't usually get their own blog posts. In this case, the company rolled out a big update with a detailed support document, possibly because the issue was so potentially serious.

I've reached out to Google for a comment and will update the story once the company responds.

Credit: ACCC

But long story short, when faced with a potential fire risk, it looks like Google is choosing to limit the capacity of the battery in affected devices rather than court disaster.

Check if your Pixel 4a is impacted

In case you haven't done so already, you can check if your Pixel 4a is impacted by going to this Google Support page and following the on-screen steps. If it is, Google offers three options—a free battery replacement, a credit of $100 towards another Pixel phone, or a one-time cash settlement of $50.

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