Apple Sued over Exploding iPod Touch

[exfileme]

Is it an iPod Touch, or an iBomb? Apple is now facing a lawsuit regarding a boy's iPod Touch exploding in his pants. Is he sure that was Apple's device?

Apple Sued over Exploding iPod Touch : Read more

 

[scook9]

the joys of lithium batteries. this is why they dont belong in hyrbid cars yet.

 

[NuclearShadow]

If the batteries were the cause of such then I don't see how the lawsuit could be against Apple. However if the ipod is at fault then I can certainly understand the lawsuit and honestly am surprised they aren't asking for much more. As for as the gross recklessness and negligence charges that's just bullshit.

 

[scook9]

it has to be the batteries that exploded.....what else could in an ipod? the screen? he probably dropped it and messed up the battery or something, lithium batteries are sensitive - thats why they always have rigid plastic cases (like cell phone batteries). The ones in the ipod are soft cells, they rely on the ipod body to provide the rigid structure.

 

[Guest]

1) lol@ipod exploding in pocket. Despite the author's claim, yes, it is funny. If it happened to me I'd want to laugh it off best as I could too, so meh.

2) lol@lawsuit... a lawsuit I can understand (kind of... given the number of the devices they must move it's tough to say they've been negligent when *ONE* explodes, but whatever), the scope and damages though... wow. Mental and emotional distress for the rest of his life? I'd call it a pretty decent story to tell for the rest of his life. Suing the retail employees takes it from ridiculous to absolutely hysterical.

3) I'm aware a jailbreak probably would ruin whatever chance they've got at winning, but that doesn't mean it should. If Apple didn't have ridiculous restrictions on what their devices can do it wouldn't have needed to be jailbroken in the first place.

 

[mavroxur]

Why SHOULD the sales clerk at the Apple store warn her? Any electronic device has the potential to fail, sometimes with undesirable results. I dont recall getting a warning from the girl at the cell phone store when I got my new phone.

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]scook9[/nom]it has to be the batteries that exploded.....what else could in an ipod? the screen? he probably dropped it and messed up the battery or something, lithium batteries are sensitive - thats why they always have rigid plastic cases (like cell phone batteries). The ones in the ipod are soft cells, they rely on the ipod body to provide the rigid structure.[/citation]
Exactly. This reminds me of the exploding laptops lol.

 

[Mathos]

Let's see, now whats the chance that the boy is lying about the device having been turned off 50/50? My guess is he had the device in his pocket, on and running, listening to music while he should of been listening to his teacher or doing class work.

Lets see, the most likely cause would be that the device was on and being used, which would cause the device to generate heat. If the boy was wearing tight or none loose clothing, that would amplify things. Which would seem to be the case when hearing the nature of said burns. The heat being generated and held into the device very likely either caused some caps or voltage regulation units to blow, which would explain the loud pop.

This applies since while not in use or turned off, the batteries aren't being drained or charged. Batteries only produce heat while being charged or discharged. Either that or the boy would of had to have done something to the device to damage it to the point of making the battery unstable.

Also a note of reference. Second degree burns are not overly severe. They're defined as any burn where the skin is red, irritated and blisters are forming (lay mans terms). So, sort of like if you touch a hot frying pan, and it causes the spot to blister, or say if you've ever had a really severe sunburn (i have, it's not fun when the top 1/3 of your body is sunburned and covered in blisters). Which means there will 95% likely be no permanent scarring.

God, this is like people suing mcdonalds because they spilled coffee on their laps while they were driving, and it was hot. And people say we don't have problems with frivolous lawsuits.

 

[sacre]

mental/physical issues, mental distress, etc... WHAT? are you KIDDING ME? Kids at 15 set off fire and explosions all the time, a simple "pop...ow my leg" isn't going to scar the kid for the rest of his life.. this is such a poor poor reason to sue.. just stick with "it damaged my body and could have done more" not the whole mental issue lifetime bit..

jesus christ (excuse my language) this is insane man, mental distress.. give it a rest.

 

[Maxor127]

Yeah, the line about "He continues to suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain, mental distress, emotional distress, and otherwise for the rest of his life" is funny. What a ridiculous statement. I guess when I was little and burned my hand on a hot microwave pizza and got a huge blister, that I should be traumatized by microwaves and pizzas now.

 

[teh_boxzor]

FAIL at suing the salesman....its like suing a car salesman because you got in an accident and the guy didn't tell you that you might get in a car accident when you bought the car.

 

[tipoo]

Hmm, lets see...

Liar liar pants on fire?

Exploded in his pants jokes?

Its a feature?

Nah, I'll go with its a New Apple DRM scheme.

 

[08nwsula]

"I knew I shouldn't have downloaded that new Al Qaeda suicide bomber app..."

but seriously, what a stupid greedy parent. "...continues to suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain, mental distress, emotional distress, and otherwise for the rest of his life..." Kids aren't going to tease you for having your phone explode, they will hate you forever if you were the reason Apple had to quit selling iphones.

 

[ZeroTech]

The lawsuit is of curse ridiculous and funny. But if it is shown that the kid did not tamper with the device then his family might actually get some monetary compensation.
Using the car example from above, if you buy a car and you get into some small accident (eg. fender bender) because the brakes were screwed up since fabrication(and it is proven so), then I think you can go after the car manufacturer. At least so that they can pay for the repair the cars.

Of curse, the salesman is not to blame. He had no part in the testing of the device.

 

[taiso]

who wears spandex underwear?

 

[pingu_Z]

Maybe "suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain, mental distress, emotional distress, and otherwise for the rest of his life" is a really nice way of saying "is the biggest mama's boy pussy that ever lived and will probably never leave my basement other then for doreto's and pepsi. The ability to afford a hooker is the only way he's getting laid ever!"

 

[afrobacon]

ah, the joy of the american law system...

why not sue the place they earned the money to buy the ipod in the first place? or the pants manufacturer for their negligence of not warning consumers that their products arn't ipod safe? why stop there when you can sue the school for the bathroom being 20 feet from the classroom he was in?

 

[curryj02]

When i read about this i couldn't help but be reminded of this clip:
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pXfHLUlZf4

So classic...

Someone really needs to do a remixed version for the kid... Now im standing in an awkward pose as when my ipod explodes... LOL

 

[Tindytim]

I'm interested in the actual physical damage.

He could have serious muscle damage. I know if one of my legs became useless, I'd kill myself. I wouldn't expect others to, but acrobatic physical activity is my livelihood.

Only then could I see any of these charges make sense. But if it's going to heal alright after a few weeks, he'll get a cool scar, and an interesting story afterwards, this is yet another frivolous lawsuit.

Sue for medical bills, court costs, and pain and suffering for the time it takes it to heal. Not for some bull about 'emotional damage'.

 

[ohim]

"The cure for american stupidity is to remove the Warning labels off products, let them figure out for themselves what could be dangerous " ofc this doesn`t apply to whole population something clearly has gone wrong in that device and it is an unfortunate incident but from 1 incident to go bash apple is quite absurd.