On Thursday, the United States Federal Aviation Administration issued a warning to airline passengers about problems associated with a new Samsung smartphone that reportedly has caught fire.
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The stern warning came at a time when Samsung is dealing with a global recall of almost 2.5 million Galaxy Note 7 shipped so far across the world. In one case, a family in St. Petersburg, Florida, reported a Galaxy Note 7 phone left charging in their Jeep caught fire, destroying the vehicle.
It wasn’t immediately clear how major US airlines would respond to the announcement by the FAA, which has previously warned that fires caused by the type of batteries found in cellphones can be very hard to extinguish aboard planes.
Regulators in other countries including USA and Japan have already taken similar measures.
While Samsung never shipped the Galaxy Note 7 in India and postponed its release before it officially started shipping, it’s likely there are units out there purchased in other countries or via the grey market.
Singapore Airlines is already prohibiting the use or charging of the phones in flight, and Australian carrier Qantas said it was requesting that passengers not use them.
Shares of Samsung suffered their second worst day of the year, tumbling 4 percent Friday on the Korea Exchange.
One of the faulty phones may have been sold to St Pete man. Consumer safety is Samsung’s highest priority.
If you buy a brand new Note 7 from a reputable retailer after it goes on sale again, you’ll nearly certainly have a safe unit unaffected by the original battery problem.
Compared to other types of batteries, rechargeable lithium batteries are more prone to overheating if they’re damaged, have manufacturing defects or are exposed to high temperatures.
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Earlier this year, the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency that sets global aviation safety standards, banned bulk shipments of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger planes until better packaging can be developed to prevent a fire from spreading and potentially destroying the plane. The device has been in the spotlight and reports of explosions continue to pile up, with the rechargeable lithium batteries to blame.
