iPod Explodes, Melts Kid's Underwear

Keane Ng

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Sep 11, 2008
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iPod Explodes, Melts Kid's Underwear



An Ohio mother is suing Apple for gross negligence after her son's iPod Touch exploded in his pocket, setting his pants on fire and melting through his underwear, leading to second-degree burns and severe emotional trauma.


iPod Touch owners, be sure you've got a fire extinguisher handy at all times when you've got your hardware in your pocket. You never know when it might explode. A boy in Cincinnati, Ohio, learned that the hard way recently, when his iPod suddenly blew up in his pocket. According to the complaint his mom filed, upon feeling a burning sensation, the poor kid "immediately ran to the bathroom and took off his burning pants with the assistance of a friend," whereupon he found that the fire had spread and burned through his pocket and "melted through his nylon/spandex underwear, burning his leg."

Immediately afterward, the kid was taken to the doctor, where his burns were classified as second degree.

"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," the lawsuit reads. Normally I would scoff at these kinds of claims, but you gotta figure the next day at school all the other kids were calling him all sorts of horrible stuff. And what of the friend who had to take his pants off? There's gotta be some psychological fallout there - that friendship's never going to be the same.

The mom is suing Apple and the employees of the Apple Store where they bought the iPod for gross negligence and recklessness, claiming that they should have warned them about the possibility of the iPod exploding and melting underwear. They're asking for at least $75,000 in compensation plus another 75 grand for punitive damages and fees.

[Via Ars Technica [http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/03/ipod-touch-not-lies-sets-kids-pants-on-fire-parents-sue.ars]]

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Gitsnik

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May 13, 2008
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The kid was wearing spandex?

Also, why should the Apple store be suffering for this! They didn't make the product.

Still, slightly amusing, and no harm done. Besides, a scar like that could have a cool story behind it - though it seems to me that 75 grand is a bit steep.
 

Ago Iterum

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Dec 31, 2007
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Is... Is this funny? I'm not sure.

I want to laugh because it's another hilarious lawsuit.

But kid got scarrrrr'd.
 

oliveira8

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Feb 2, 2009
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"He continues to suffer from both physical and mental conditions which will cause him to suffer pain..."

Kid: AH MA GOD EXPLODING IPOD'S TOUCH CRAWLING OVER THE WALLS!! MOM!!! HEEEEEEELLLLLLPPPPPPP!!!!


I know its not fun to laugh...:(
 

Citrus

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Apr 25, 2008
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The mother is being rather melodramatic, but at least this lawsuit is justified. It's a nice break from the related stupid and ridiculous suits that occur every other day.
 

Brotherofwill

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Jan 25, 2009
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Mental trauma that will stay for the rest of his life?

Again my theory of kids being pussies nowadays continues, back in the day that would have made for an awesome playground story.

Good thing that wasn't a Nokia N-gage, that beast would have ripped half his leg off
 

Eric the Orange

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Apr 29, 2008
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"they should have warned them about the possibility of the iPod exploding and melting underwear", wow k, thats pretty specific, I guess they could sell a short books worth of "possible" occurances. Like for example, "do not eat your iPod, doing so may cause choking".
 

Brotherofwill

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Gormourn said:
Brotherofwill said:
Mental trauma that will stay for the rest of his life?

Again my theory of kids being pussies nowadays continues, back in the day that would have made for an awesome playground story.

Good thing that wasn't a Nokia N-gage, that beast would have ripped half his leg off
Dude. Seriously. If this would happen to you, wouldn't YOU want to get free shit from the company when they are getting sued? Just mental trauma would probably give you a few thousand, or a few hundred thousand bucks.

And you could act like it just to keep up the lie sometimes =P
I bet their lawyer advised it. Hell, I'd do it if that happened to me, free money is free.
Well, this is the closest the little bummer could ever be to getting an awesome pirate peg leg, so he should have atleast honoured the moment.
 

Fanboy

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Oct 20, 2008
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Stephen Colbert was right! [http://gizmodo.com/5038017/stephen-colbert-isnt-afraid-of-the-iphones-kill-switch]

He was talking about the iphone, but I think this is close enough...
 

sooperman

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Feb 11, 2009
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Keane Ng said:
iPod Touch owners, be sure you've got a fire extinguisher handy at all times when you've got your hardware in your pocket. You never know when it might explode.
Yes I do. Never. I own an iPod Touch, and I am more than confident that it will not explode at random in my pocket. This kid was doing something weird with it; mabybe it was an app, maybe he got it hot, maybe he did something to the hardrive.
Did you know that if you leave a PSP in the sun for too long, it will explode like a hand grenade? Same thing happened here. This kid found the thing that will make an iPod Touch explode. By accident, I'm sure, but he did.

I just know.
 

cainx10a

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May 17, 2008
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Oh dear, I was planning to get one soon as well as a new PSP. Well, guess I'll stick with the PSP as the mp3 player for a while.
 

Doug

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Apr 23, 2008
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Keane Ng said:
The mom is suing Apple and the employees of the Apple Store where they bought the iPod for gross negligence and recklessness, claiming that they should have warned them about the possibility of the iPod exploding and melting underwear. They're asking for at least $75,000 in compensation plus another 75 grand for punitive damages and fees.
Apple, yeah, I can understand that. But the Apple store employees?! Unless Apple main knew about the problem and informed them, and then trained them to make sure they knew, that one will be hard to make stick.

Citrus Insanity said:
The mother is being rather melodramatic, but at least this lawsuit is justified. It's a nice break from the related stupid and ridiculous suits that occur every other day.
Indeed. Although I don't think she's been melodramatic - after all, the mobile phone set fire to her son! Its not like he strapped himself and she's reacting like this. He could easily have been killed. And to that, the kid's probably not going to trust technology again, or at least, not easily. And in this modern world, thats a big handy cap.