iPod Lights Man's Pants on Fire
Danny Williams' taste in music is so wretched, his own iPod tried to kill him. Very recently, the Douglasville, Ga., native looked down to find his pants pocket engulfed in flames. The culprit: his year-old iPod Nano.Williams walked away from the incident uninjured thanks to a piece of glossy paper in his pocket, which he believes spared him from being badly burned. But, as if having your iPod try to immolate you isn't frightening enough, consider where this episode took place: Williams works at a kiosk at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As Williams said himself:
"If TSA had come by and seen me smoking, they could have honestly thought I was a terrorist."
This fire is just the latest in a series of recent lithium-ion battery flame-ups. After smoke and flames were reported by consumers last August, Sony has since been forced to recall more than seven million laptop batteries it made for its own computers as well as for Dell, Apple, Gateway, Toshiba and several others. This summer, a Chinese man was killed when his cell phone battery exploded in his chest pocket, sending a broken rib tearing into his heart.
The lithium-ion battery has become ubiquitous due to its small size and ability to hold a charge, making it the perfect power supply for our increasingly mobile world. Unfortunately -- while very rare -- it is more likely than other types of batteries to light on fire or even explode.
As for this latest incident, Apple has pledged to replace Williams' iPod, but wouldn't comment further. As a result, we are unable to tell you which batch of iPod Nanos are affected and how widespread the problem might be.
Hey Apple, we're all very aware that you came out with some shiny new iPods last month. But, resorting to these scare tactics to convince us to upgrade? That's a new low.
From Geek Sugar
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
tommygirl706 @ Oct 8th 2007 11:08AM
Great, I just got the new Ipod touch yesterday, I am very impressed with it so far.. as long as i dont catch on fire!
duke best @ Oct 8th 2007 11:37AM
Just put my new IPod into service. I did not see any disclaimers in the instructions about putting it in my pocket. Based on the article above, it will stay in a fireproof box until it melts away. reminds me of the old "mission impossible" skit that gave the agent 7 seconds to respong before the tape blew up.
karine @ Oct 8th 2007 11:40AM
its ur pants not the ipod fruit!
jason @ Oct 8th 2007 12:06PM
Great, another thing they will take away on aircrafts.
CGM1009 @ Oct 8th 2007 12:30PM
"Danny Williams's taste in music is so wretched, his own iPod tried to kill him. Very recently, the Douglasville, Georgia native looked down to find his pants pocket engulfed in flames. The culprit: his year-old iPod Nano."
I'm sorry, but I find this story absolutely hilarious!
robsharkey @ Oct 8th 2007 12:32PM
is it any surprise? coming from a company with a 55% return rate that won't insure thier new phone and can't allow consumers to buy and replace there own batteries. there are so many better products out there with more compatibility; people need to stop being followers, paying attention to whats popular.
Sangyechin @ Oct 8th 2007 12:47PM
hey there are thousands of ipod in the world! the ipod that chatch fire is yours!
so enough of the news!
Sangyechin @ Oct 8th 2007 12:48PM
hey there are thousands of ipod in the world! the ipod that chatch fire is yours!
so enough of the news!
Sangyechin @ Oct 8th 2007 12:49PM
hey there are thousands of ipod in the world! the ipod that chatch fire is yours!
so enough of the news!
irresistiblex3 @ Oct 8th 2007 12:57PM
Liar Liar Pants on fire... Are you sure it was the Ipod that was on fire?
Joe Turner @ Oct 8th 2007 1:04PM
Luckily, we have a built in fire extinguisher nearby.
Another advantage of being a man....!
Michael Wright @ Oct 8th 2007 1:19PM
We have almost an entire generation of young freaks in our society who are completely dependent on noise-making devices, such as cell phones, ipods, and obnoxious loud (boom-boom) car stereos. They are actually distressed and uncomfortable with quiet. Too bad they can't entertain themselves with their own imaginations and intelligent conversations with fellow humans.
Smoke @ Oct 8th 2007 1:31PM
Hey all you Ipod, cell phone morons..What you really need to do to avoid this kind of situation is get a life...The next moron who nearly rear ends me because they HAVE to be on their phone because they are SOOO important is gonna have a choice of which hole to S#^* outta...
DENNIS I. @ Oct 8th 2007 1:35PM
George Bush once set his pants on fire to get out of Vietnam.
sbsemb @ Oct 8th 2007 1:35PM
Oh for crying out loud, one little incident and you assume Apple is guilty of sabotage? Get a grip!
Pierpoint Windsor @ Oct 8th 2007 1:43PM
While the report puts a humorous spin on this, the reality is something quite different. For one, we would sure like to know what the makeup of the 'glossy paper' was that saved Danny Williams from serious injury.
Apple must be made to disclose all specifics concerning the dangers of their products. Are we all in danger of having these things cause us serious injury or even death? I now have my Apple I-pod sitting in front of me, is the thing to be considered ARMED AND DANGEROUS? Steve Jobs once again-OTL------>
chubby @ Oct 8th 2007 1:45PM
My pants are always on fire.
CHUCKBOB @ Oct 8th 2007 1:47PM
thats not what jim morrison meant when he said "come on bayb light my fire", is it?
Vitriolic Conservative @ Oct 8th 2007 1:57PM
Apple is going to wish they never lowered the price of the iPhone. When they have to recall millions of iPod Nanos, it's going to cost them a fortune. Oh by the way, what Michael Wright and SMOKE said, I totally 100% agree ^5.
maxstine @ Oct 8th 2007 2:36PM
I think the source of the flame may be blamed on the integrity of the pants wearer rather than the Ipod. They always say Liar, Liar, pants on fire!