Texas
teen Ariel Tolfree received a rude awakening when her Samsung galaxy S4
smartphone caught fire overnight, as she slept next to it, according to
a new report. This incident is the latest in a string of
Samsung-related battery fires.
”The
whole phone melted,” Ariel's dad, Thomas, told local television station
KDFW. “The plastic, the glass. You can't even really tell that it was a
phone." Ariel, 13, said the phone slipped under her pillow as she
slept.
When
a burning smell woke her up, she discovered the phone had cracked and
melted, burning a hole through her pillow. “I didn't think much of it,
so I went back to sleep, and then I woke up again and it was more
prominent,” Ariel said. Her father added that he suspects the phone's
battery overheated, and swelled up.
Earlier
this year, the Daily Mail reported that a British woman woke up to her
Galaxy S4 "sizzling" beside her bed after she left it charging
overnight. Last July, a Hong Kong man claimed his S4 exploded, and
burned down his house and Mercedes, CNET reported.
And
last December, Samsung reportedly tried to cover up a video in which a
disgruntled customer complains that his S4 caught on fire.
A
Samsung spokesperson told Fox that Ariel's phone had a replacement
battery instead of the original Samsung component, and said its products
are safe. What's more, the S4's user manual warns that covering a phone
with bedding can restrict airflow, and cause a fire or explosion,
though some consumers are unaware of this risk.
Samsung
has requested that Ariel return the S4's charred remains for
investigation, and said that it will replace her phone and ruined
bedding.
Posted by : Gizmeon
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