Exploding Cell Phone Batteries

Amy Rothschild

Contributor

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On July 6, 2007, the New York Times reported that regulators in China have found that certain mobile cell phone batteries manufactured in the southern Guangdong Province, one of the world's largest electronics manufacturing areas in China, were prone to exploding. It was found that the batteries were subject to exploding under certain conditions. The batteries that were affected were those purportedly manufactured by Motorola and Nokia. The batteries became suspect after a cell phone exploded in the pocket of a man in China which resulted in his death. It is unclear if any of the defective batteries were exported to other countries. Motorola and Nokia have rejected claims that the exploding batteries were manufactured by either of them, and have reported that the defective batteries were counterfeit. Nokia further stated that it does not manufacture its batteries in China. This matter brings into question, the safety of those items that are being manufactured in other countries for export into the United States. As an example, a United States company recently recalled approximately 450,000 tires manufactured in China because they did not have a certain safety feature, which could prevent the splitting and falling apart of the tires' treads. The tire recall was issued after a lawsuit was filed blaming the Chinese-made tires for an accident that resulted in the August 2006 death of two individuals in Pennsylvania.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Defective and Dangerous Products.