Devices such as the iPhone 7, which removed the headphone jack, are encouraging more consumers to opt for a pair of wireless headphone or earphones, such as the AirPods. But just like every other wireless device out there, they require a battery to function, and when one of these batteries is faulty it can have serious consequences.
When lithium-ion rechargeable batteries go wrong, they do so in an explosive manner. We've seen laptops and smartphone explode and burn very hot for minutes at a time, but now the same thing has happened to wireless headphones.
A woman traveling from Beijing to Melbourne on a long-haul flight was asleep listening to music through a pair of wireless headphones when she awoke due to the sound of an explosion. Then her face started to burn, so she did the natural things and grabbed her face, which made the headphones drop down to her neck, which also started to burn.
Battery explosion mid-flight prompts passenger warning. Read more: https://t.co/ggCwATEiDI pic.twitter.com/YTTP9rEzFf
— ATSB (@atsbinfo) March 14, 2017
Once she realized what was going on the headphones were thrown to the floor where they continued to spark and flames were visible. Flight attendants came to her aid and placed the headphones in a bucket of water. The plastic covers over the batteries had melted and the woman suffered burns to her face and neck, as well as blistering on her hand.
Related
- The Best Headphones of 2017The Best Headphones of 2017
The incident happened two hours into the flight and left the cabin smelling of melted plastic, as well as burnt hair and electronics. The fumes produced from the fire also made other passengers cough, with one passenger commenting "people were coughing and choking the entire way home."
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) did not reveal the brand of headphones the woman was using, but did point out that the risk of these incidents happening increases as we carry around more and more devices fitted with batteries. Anyone concerned about how to travel safety with batteries can visit the Australian Government Civil Aviation Safety Authority website for guidance.
This incident will bring back memories of the Galaxy Note 7, which was banned from flights by the US Department of Transportation because so many of them were catching on fire and exploding. Samsung eventually blamed bad batteries for the high rate of failure.