LG Chem to Investigate the Mystery of Exploding Laptops

Mid-January was not quite the right time you were the owner of a notebook computer. The incidents that took place back then scared and dazzled laptop users, and I received many e-mail messages back then with further reports or questions. Just in case you don't remember what happened back then, let me re-iterate this for you.

A Hewlett-Packard Compaq Presario PC burst into flames out of the blue inside a house in Arkansas, setting the whole residence on fire. The notebook owner's daughter was surrounded by flames and had to jump out of an upstairs window, in order to save her life. The notebook's owner filled a lawsuit against Hewlett-Packard, and, according to the accompanying documents, his daughter suffered "burns and physical injuries" and permanent disfigurement.

Back then, it seemed that the exploding laptops had a single common link: they all used LG Chem's notebook batteries. Back then, LG claimed that its batteries would undergo a thorough resistance test, that included drop tests, internal short circuit testing, and even overcharging and overheating to 130º C.

The company's investigations concluded today and LG Electronics issued a report that claimed that the batteries the "exploding laptops" came with would not burst into flames under normal operation conditions. "An external shock under an extremely high temperature caused the explosion in January," the company said in a statement, citing a test result report by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, a state-funded power appliances test firm.

The report also claimed that "under normal usage conditions, it is not possible for a notebook PC battery to combust." However, it seems that the battery did explode, although as the result of a severe shock and high temperature. LG Chem also claimed that the tests did not show what initially caused the high temperature.

The company stated that it would not recall the batteries that are already in use on the market, given the fact that they do not explode by themselves, but as a result of external factors and mishandling.