Samsung has issued a recall for 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 Smartphones due to a defect in the phones’ lithium-ion battery. There have been more than 70 reports in the United States of Samsung Galaxy Note 7 batteries overheating. In one case, a Florida man left his Galaxy Note 7 charging in the front seat of his truck. He came back several minutes later to discover his vehicle was engulfed in flames.
The FAA and several airliners are asking passengers to turn off and not charge these phones. New York City’s transit authority has made similar requests.
Defect with the lithium-ion battery.
Lithium-ion batteries are at the center of the Galaxy Note 7’s problems. Samsung claims that a manufacturing defect involving 2 components of the battery, the anode and the cathode, affected the batteries in 1 out of every 42,000 phones. If the anode and the cathode come into contact the battery undergoes a chain reaction called a thermal runaway causing the battery to rapidly overheat and in some cases explode. Batteries that have this defect can explode without warning.
The Galaxy Note 7 is not the only Samsung smartphone that has exploded without warning. There are reports of injuries involving other models. In New York, a 6-year-old boy was badly burned after a Samsung Galaxy Core exploded in his hands. A construction worker in Ohio suffered third-degree burns after a Galaxy S7 Edge exploded in his pocket. Like the Galaxy Note 7, lithium-ion batteries are to blame.
When people are injured by unsafe consumer products, they deserve the chance to hold businesses responsible. The New Jersey product liability attorneys at Keefe Law Firm will hold negligent companies accountable for causing injuries.
