For seven months, a reporter fought Apple's lawyers to obtain documents concerning iPod media players. The end result? An 800-page report including 15 burn and fire-related incidents with iPods.
KIRO-TV reporter Amy Clancy requested the report from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and Apple lawyers attempted to block her from accessing it, filing exemption after exemption. With the Freedom of Information Act, Clancy eventually won the battle and posted her findings Wednesday.
The document includes incidents involving iPod Shuffles, iPod Nanos and iPod Classics. In one case in 2006, an iPod even caught fire on a ship with over 2,000 people on-board.
Apple hasn't completely glossed over battery issues: The company in August 2008 issued a recall for a small number of iPod Nanos (0.001 percent) containing defective, potentially hazardous batteries. Also, in 2006, Apple issued a recall for iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 notebooks, because their batteries contained cells manufactured by Sony, which were causing batteries to explode.
It's debatable whether 15 incidents is an alarming number, as it's small compared to the millions of iPods that have been sold. However, it's worth nothing these are only the number of reported iPod incidents, as opposed to the number of iPods that have actually caught fire.
See Also:
- Defective iPod Nanos Caused Fires in Japan
- Man Killed by Cellphone Explosion
- PowerBook Explosion Prompts Office Evacuation
Photo: nebarnix/Flickr
