Safety & Communication — Recall Check
Rechargeable Hand Warmer Recall: Check Your Model
Three federal recalls in 2026 pulled more than 1.5 million rechargeable hand warmers off the market — the biggest of them after 350 burn injuries and one death. Two minutes with the underside of yours tells you whether it is on the list. This page is the list.
How this page was built: every model number, unit count and remedy below is quoted from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s recall notices — 26-659 (OCOOPA), 27-011 (HotHands) and 27-009 (Gobi Heat) — checked November 1, 2026. The two alternatives at the bottom were checked against the same recall database before being linked.
Three separate federal recalls in 2026 pulled more than 1.5 million rechargeable hand warmers off the market — the biggest of them after 350 burn injuries and one death. If there is a rechargeable warmer riding in your hunting pack, your get-home bag, or your glove box, two minutes with the underside of it tells you whether it is on the list. This page is the list.
The three recalls at a glance
| Brand | Recalled model(s) | Units | Injuries reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| OCOOPA | 7 models — full list below | About 1,500,000 | 350 burns, 1 death |
| HotHands (Kobayashi) | H163650 | About 77,000 | None reported |
| Gobi Heat | UT3053 | About 5,500 | None reported |
All figures are from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recall notices, checked November 1, 2026: recall 26-659 (OCOOPA), recall 27-011 (HotHands), and recall 27-009 (Gobi Heat).
The OCOOPA recall — the big one
The OCOOPA warmers can overheat and catch fire while charging and while in use. The CPSC notice counts 1,480 reports of overheating, smoking, sparking, melting, or exploding, including 15 fires and 350 burn injuries — and the death of an 83-year-old consumer in San José, California, in February 2026, after a fire involving one of the warmers in a vehicle. The recalled units were sold from September 2018 through May 2026 at Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Ocoopa.com, and Ocoopa.net, for $15 to $60.
The recalled OCOOPA model numbers are:
- UT3053
- UT3056
- ZLS-118
- ZLS-118S
- ZLS-118D
- H01
- H01(PD)
One trap worth knowing: Gobi Heat also sold a warmer numbered UT3053 — a different product from a different company. The brand name printed on top of the warmer is what tells the two UT3053s apart.
How to check yours
- Read the brand name printed on the top of the warmer: OCOOPA, HotHands, or Gobi Heat.
- Flip it over. The model number and a three-digit batch number are printed on the underside.
- Match brand plus model against the lists on this page. If your brand and model are not listed, your warmer is not part of these recalls.
If yours is on the list
OCOOPA (models above). Stop using it immediately. The remedy is a full refund, paid as an OCOOPA gift card or back to your original form of payment. Write “RECALLED” in permanent marker on the warmer, then submit a photo showing the marking, the model number, and the batch number at ocoopa.com/pages/product-recalls. Dispose of the warmer under your local hazardous-waste rules — it carries a lithium battery and does not belong in household trash.
HotHands H163650. Stop using it. The remedy is a full refund. Get a claim number first at hothands.com/recall-notice-rechargeable, or by phone at 866-534-9986 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday). Write “Recalled” and the claim number on the warmer in permanent marker, take a photo showing both, and submit it through the same page.
Gobi Heat UT3053. Stop using it. The remedy is a full refund, or store credit for the purchase price plus 20 percent. Start at gobiheat.com/pages/handwarmer-recall, or email recall@gobiheat.com.
Not the packets
One distinction that matters before anything gets thrown out: the HotHands recall covers only the rechargeable warmer with the white HotHands logo, model H163650. The single-use, air-activated HotHands packets are not part of any recall. Neither is any warmer whose brand and model do not appear above.
What to use instead
A refund replaces your money, not the warmth in your gloves. The honest replacements are the two warmer designs with no lithium battery in them — the battery is the part that failed in all three recalls, and a warmer without one cannot overheat on a charger, because it never charges.
The disposable packet is the simplest swap. Air-activated packets run on iron powder and oxygen. Open the pouch and a pair gives up to 10 hours of heat, in gloves, pockets, or a hand muff — then it goes in the trash, spent. Nothing to plug in, nothing to swell, nothing warm that should not be.
HotHands Hand Warmers — 10 Pairs
Why this one: these are the single-use packets the section above is careful to clear — Kobayashi’s recall covers only its rechargeable model H163650. The packets make heat from iron powder and air, so the failure behind all three recalls is not in the design. One pair per cold day covers a hunt, a shift outside, or a long sit in a cold stand.
Zippo 12-Hour Hand Warmer
The catalytic classic: refillable, flameless, a season-after-season tool instead of a consumable. We checked before linking it — Zippo’s CPSC recalls cover lighters and torches, not its hand warmers.
Up to 12 hrs per fill · 2.6 oz · Fluid sold separately
Check price at Amazon →
The refillable catalytic warmer is the buy-it-once route. A platinum-coated burner sips lighter fluid and glows without a flame — a design that dates to the 1920s and still runs up to 12 hours on a single fill, inside the felt pouch it ships with.
It asks a little more of you than a packet does: fill it outdoors, light the burner, let it come up to heat before it goes in the pouch. In exchange there is no battery to age out, no charge port to fail, and nothing electronic between you and the heat — the same reason the design has outlived every battery chemistry thrown at it.
Using a warmer that is not recalled
A warmer that clears the check still holds a lithium battery, and the failure mode in these recalls — overheating — is the one basic habits guard against:
- Charge on a hard, clear surface. Not in bed, not buried in a pack, not overnight and unattended.
- Retire any unit that swells, smells hot, or gets warm while switched off.
- Do not keep using a warmer that has been cracked or badly dropped.
- Store it cool and dry, part-charged, for the off-season.
- When any rechargeable warmer reaches end of life, it goes to a hazardous-waste or battery drop-off — never the household trash.
Cold kills more than batteries, incidentally — if a canister stove is part of the same kit, why canister stoves die in cold weather is the companion check.
Sources: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall notices 26-659 (OCOOPA Direct, imported by Shenzhen Street Cat Technology), 27-011 (Kobayashi Healthcare HotHands), and 27-009 (Gobi Heat). Facts and remedies checked against the CPSC notices on November 1, 2026.
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