14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 is not the one to blame for a Jeep that caught fire all of a sudden in Florida on September 5, despite the fact that owners claimed they left the phone unattended in the vehicle.
This is the conclusion of US firefighters after closely investigating the case and looking at the sources that could have caused the car fire, according to a new report coming from The St. Pete Patch. The St. Petersburg Fire Rescue couldn’t find the actual cause of the fire, but explained that the Note 7 that was in the car at that point wasn’t the one at fault for bursting the Jeep into flames.
“It was reported that a Samsung Galaxy Note7 was in the vehicle at the time of the fire, and there were allegations that it may have been the cause. After a thorough investigation, fire investigators did not find a cause for the fire,” the local Fire Rescue office was quoted as saying.
“Due to the destructive nature of the fire, and multiple possibilities that could not be eliminated as to the ignition source, this classification was determined most appropriate.”
While having the Note 7 in a car that caught fire is clearly a coincidence right now after hearing the official result of the investigation, the owners of the Jeep seem to believe otherwise.
Loud explosions caused by the Note 7? Very unlikely
In their original statements provided after the fire, Nathan Dornacher and his wife Lydia pointed to the Note 7 as the fire ignition source, claiming that the phone was left charging on the passenger seat of the car.
“Nathan had his New Galaxy Note 7 that he purchased the weekend before charging in our Jeep Grand Cherokee. We came home and began to unload the desk, the jeep was left running,” they were quoted as saying.
What’s more uncanny, however, is that they claim they “heard explosions off as we opened the door” of the car, blaming the Note 7 for this too. In reality, however, although it does come with a faulty battery, the Note 7 doesn’t actually explode, but only catches fire, so it’s hard to blame the phone for those loud explosions.
Without a doubt, the conclusion US investigators reached isn’t going to help the couple in their case with the insurance company, and Samsung is very unlikely to provide any financial damages given the fact that the Note 7 wasn’t involved in any way in the car fire.