Some of you probably remember the Dell laptop that caught fire at a Japanese conference last year due to problems with the battery. Now the same type of lithium-ion battery is likely to blame for an iPod Nano that caught on fire in a man’s pocket as he was working at the Atlanta International Airport. While the reason that the Nano caught fire hasn’t been confirmed, it would be no surprise if it were due to the battery.
According to an Atlanta News Station who interviewed the man, the flames came up to his chest and lasted for about 15 seconds. As mentioned, the man, Danny Williams works in an airport. He said that the fact that his Nano caught on fire was bad, but it was worse that it caught on fire while he was working. He said, “If TSA had come by and seen me smoking, they could have honestly thought I was a terrorist.” Of course Apple has said that they’ll replace the Nano, and they are asking that he ship the Nano that caught fire back to them so that they can look into what caused the problem. Now it leaves me wondering if this was an isolated incident, or if others have experienced something similar?
Shortly after the aforementioned Dell incident last year, Dell announced that 4.1 million laptop batteries were being recalled. If it turns out that the battery caused the fire in the Nano situation, it’ll be interesting to see if Apple will issue a recall for some of the iPod batteries. If there is a recall, it could amount into a rather large expense for Apple like it did for Dell when they spent about $300 million!
Source: InfoWorld
That can’t be good. After they gave away all of those free Nanos to make room for the new version. Maybe I’ll be using my Nano a little less now…
Doubt it.
It’s apple. They’ll say “the one or two instances is a very small minority, it’s not a big concern”.
Even though the batteries probably should be recalled anyways…
Almost all portable electrons run on lithium battery’s. What’s the point of recalling?
Haven’t you guys seen Fight Club? They wont do it unless it’s worth it to the company!
I’m sure Apple would do something about it if they really thought it needed to be done. they seem pretty responsible, to me.
It starts with just one or two, and then more people start stepping forward. That’s how it always starts.
It really depends on how the battery is made. Could be a poor casing, bad design, etc…
If they don’t do a recall and more people start having troubles then the result could be an outrageous class action lawsuit.
If they really thought it should be done, or they knew a lawsuit was imminent? I think Apple’s a good company, but I think the only way they’ll do something about it is if they feel a lawsuit coming on.
I’ve already read about another incident since writing this article — I’m sure it’s happened in the past on occassion, it’s just never been made public until now.
But if they can keep it quiet enough and settle out of court for less than the cost a recall, a lot of companies wouldn’t recall the product.
I believe Apple should consider it’s customers first. Don’t wait for a LAW-SUIT to happen.