14 DAY TRIAL // Horror stories about smartphones blowing up out of the blue and burning down entire apartments have emerged in the press before.
But a new story published by CNET shows us that laptops can be as dangerous and susceptible to fire hazards.
According to the news, a 72-year old woman from Pennsylvania going by the name of Loretta Luff claims she has been seriously injured, after her laptop suddenly blew up without warning.
The story goes like this. The elderly lady says she was just checking her email and having a simple game of Solitaire on her Dell Inspiron laptop (the exact model is not specified) when the device went boom, with the battery pack flying across the room.
Her shirt caught on fire, and while struggling to get the piece of clothing off her, the hair was damaged as well. During the incident, Luff suffered burns to her foot, arm and face. The foot was quite severely injured since she must have stepped on the flying battery when it landed on the floor.
An investigation was started and based on the preliminary findings, the laptop’s battery seems to be the piece that gets blamed for all the trouble.
Dell, on the other hand, has announced it has taken steps to investigate the matter and determine what went wrong, but in their official statement they indicate an incompatible battery might have been the culprit.
“Dell will take appropriate steps to investigate this incident. It’s also important to note that, in our product documentation, Dells customers that “using an incompatible battery or a third-part battery may increase the risk of fire or explosion and that they should replace the battery only with a battery purchased from Dell that is designed to work with their Dell computer.”
Luff admitted she replaced the battery at some point, but she couldn't say if it was a fake or a Dell-certified one.
The Dell Inspiron she owned was six years old and was given by her daughter. Now, the woman says that if she’ll get a replacement, she'll take the battery out overnight.
Back in April, we told you Sony issued a statement related to its Sony VAIO Fit 11A laptops, which it warned might be affected by overheating battery problems. The company urged customers to stop using the laptops immediately and fortunately no one got hurt, like in the story above.
However, in all honesty Dell might turn out to be free of blame in this account, if it is proved the replacement battery was counterfeit.