An article over at TechNewsWorld cites how a Northern California man received second and third degree burns to at least half his body while sleeping when his cell phone spontaneously exploded in his pocket. The phone, located in his front pants pocket, ignited his clothing and led to a larger fire.
Check out the full story after the jump…
An article over at TechNewsWorld cites how a Northern California man received second and third degree burns to at least half his body while sleeping when his cell phone spontaneously exploded in his pocket. The phone, located in his front pants pocket, ignited his clothing and led to a larger fire.
The cell phone’s manufacturer, model number and technical information have yet to be released.
Though serious, these accidents are “relatively rare” according to Scott Wolfson, deputy director of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Office of Public Affairs.
“It is important to keep stories like this in perspective. We don’t want to scare consumers into thinking this is a frequent occurrence,” said Wolfson.
Wolfson then mentioned that while these accidents can occur, they’re often the result of a malfunctioning battery or consumer misuse such as leaving a cell phone in a heated environment or dropping the phone at an odd angle, which can damage vital components.
“If you do drop a phone, don’t immediately put it in your pocket,” he warned. “Shut it off and after a few minutes turn it back on to see if it is OK.”
Since 2004, there have been three recalls of cell phone batteries, two of the three recalls being issued by Kyocera and the third being issued by Verizon Wireless.
Wolfson also warned against metal (such as a coin) coming into contact with an exposed battery after it’s been removed from the cell phone, which can lead to a short circuit as well as being wary of buying generic or other manufacturers’ accessories.
Similar situations have arisen recently with laptop batteries, Apple issuing a recall for a series of MacBook Pro batteries manufactured by Sony, these batteries swelling beyond their original size to sometimes frightening degrees.
If you’ve seen anything along these lines with your own cell phone batteries or have comments or feedback, let us know.
