Woman Says Samsung Phone Caught Fire While She Drove, Destroying Her Car

Megalith

Megalith

24-bit/48kHz
Joined
Aug 20, 2006
Messages
13,000
Samsung’s phones are at the center of another fiery incident: a woman in Detroit was driving her Nissan Maxima when one of her Galaxy phones, which was sitting in a cupholder, caught fire. The vehicle was completely destroyed, but no lawsuits have been filed yet.

Attorney Gerald Thurswell says his client still suffers emotional scars and trouble sleeping after the scare. While searching online, we found similar complaints about Samsung phones, some that were even banned from airplanes. But, Thurswell says neither of the phones are on a recall list.
 
PTSD, explosions, and Detroit this story has everything that happens most Tuesdays there.
 
Two phones in one cup holder? Possible overheat during charging? Or were both fully running and just overheated being stacked together?
 
Probably bought one of those overpriced gas station chargers that'll either blow a fuse or make you question why the cable is so incredibly warm to the touch.

Given that they're both older models, also possible third party batteries from wildcard quality company.
 
She needed one of those phone holders that puts the phone right next to the air vents. That keeps them nice and cool while charging or using maps.
 
I had a brand new, off the forecourt, nissan x-trail. We had a mobile phone plugged in playing music and it burst into flame (the car) whilst we were driving down a busy high-street. It was totally destroyed, and was only 4 months old with a thousand miles on the clock.

Nissan didn't even look at it to identify the cause since to do so may expose them to liability. We were forced to take exactly the same car AND Nissan sold the second one to the insurance so they came out UP on the situation.

To cap things off, the new car is now flashing up errors constantly, and this one is only 2 years old. The garage can't figure it out

There is something very wrong with Nissan's electrics and their cars. I hope they get nailed to the wall


 
I noticed a few months ago that the wife's Galaxy 5 screen was coming off, so bought her a new phone. Then opened the bad one to get the sim and saw the problem -- the battery was about 3-4 times thicker than it started out. Figured that I would toss it rather than bite it to see if anything would happen. :eek:
 
What happens when you're constantly dropping the phone into a hard cup holder.....
 
Eh, my s7 stock battery ballooned from a quick charge session and cracked my back glass. Had I not been watching (and heard it) I could have seen it pop.
27$ next day shipped a new battery and glass. And, but I suppose it could have been.

Also I've been seeing back glass temps over 140f with fast wireless charging.
 
I was about to comment about why didn't she use the fire extinguisher, before realizing it's not normal to have a fire extinguisher mounted in the car.
 
RealBeast said:
I noticed a few months ago that the wife's Galaxy 5 screen was coming off, so bought her a new phone. Then opened the bad one to get the sim and saw the problem -- the battery was about 3-4 times thicker than it started out. Figured that I would toss it rather than bite it to see if anything would happen. :eek:
Click to expand...

Wuss.
 
what she didn't tell anyone is that when the phone is not being used she always keeps it in her car, with the windows closed, in the dead of summer, on the dashboard and she lives in Phoenix
 
Umm, I've been working as a technician at a Nissan store for 10 years and haven't seen or heard of (in Nissan school with other dealers) one incident of a thermal event due to any faulty wiring. I can attest that Nissan's wiring harness and circuit protection is on par with other Japanese makes, and way better than some of the domestic makes out there. Coming from working 20 years at a GM store, I can tell you every day I was repairing corroded harnesses, shorts, opens etc. It was a fucking nightmare but it paid well. Then I come to Nissan, and ask some of the guys who is their electrical guy, and how busy is he with wiring. They looked at me like I was crazy. As I soon found out, and can confirm after 10 years, I was crazy to ask that. Sure, we get some "common issues", heated seat module connections burning out on older vehicles, but then the seat heat goes inop, not burns the car to the ground.
With regards to the charging of phones, I can tell you that the phone can draw too much current from the factory radio and cause radio issues/failures. Newer phones with fast charging seem to cause these issues with Nissan vehicles, probably other makes too I don't know.
Late models are starting to come with dedicated higher power "charge only" usb ports. Maybe that will help. I don't know if I like Qi chargers in cars. Nissan does not have wireless charging yet. I'm not sure how an energized field near so many electronics would be safe from an EMI perspective anyway.
 
_l_ said:
what she didn't tell anyone is that when the phone is not being used she always keeps it in her car, with the windows closed, in the dead of summer, on the dashboard and she lives in Phoenix
Click to expand...

And always charging is better for the battery.
 
davethehedgehog said:
I had a brand new, off the forecourt, nissan x-trail. We had a mobile phone plugged in playing music and it burst into flame (the car) whilst we were driving down a busy high-street. It was totally destroyed, and was only 4 months old with a thousand miles on the clock.

Nissan didn't even look at it to identify the cause since to do so may expose them to liability. We were forced to take exactly the same car AND Nissan sold the second one to the insurance so they came out UP on the situation.

To cap things off, the new car is now flashing up errors constantly, and this one is only 2 years old. The garage can't figure it out

There is something very wrong with Nissan's electrics and their cars. I hope they get nailed to the wall
Click to expand...

Had a Nissan Maxima many years ago. 2nd worse car I've ever owned.
Based on that experience and their poor reliability ratings, I'd never buy one again.
 
LanPirate1 said:
Umm, I've been working as a technician at a Nissan store for 10 years and haven't seen or heard of (in Nissan school with other dealers) one incident of a thermal event due to any faulty wiring. I can attest that Nissan's wiring harness and circuit protection is on par with other Japanese makes, and way better than some of the domestic makes out there. Coming from working 20 years at a GM store, I can tell you every day I was repairing corroded harnesses, shorts, opens etc. It was a fucking nightmare but it paid well. Then I come to Nissan, and ask some of the guys who is their electrical guy, and how busy is he with wiring. They looked at me like I was crazy. As I soon found out, and can confirm after 10 years, I was crazy to ask that. Sure, we get some "common issues", heated seat module connections burning out on older vehicles, but then the seat heat goes inop, not burns the car to the ground.
With regards to the charging of phones, I can tell you that the phone can draw too much current from the factory radio and cause radio issues/failures. Newer phones with fast charging seem to cause these issues with Nissan vehicles, probably other makes too I don't know.
Late models are starting to come with dedicated higher power "charge only" usb ports. Maybe that will help. I don't know if I like Qi chargers in cars. Nissan does not have wireless charging yet. I'm not sure how an energized field near so many electronics would be safe from an EMI perspective anyway.
Click to expand...

Umm, that's great. Then why wouldn't Nissan be at least slightly interested in why a 4 month old car exploded for no apparent reason. Since their cars are so reliable. Surely if quality is such a big thing, they'd like to rectify any issues, or at least know problems weren't related to that. They didn't even look at the car or send any kind of technical investigator. Not even a bog standard mechanic.

It couldn't be that their concern for their liability outstrips their concern for their customer's safety, could it?

edit: To clarify, we were treat like absolute crap by Nissan. Not the dealer, Nissan directly. You wouldn't believe that a brand new car had just burst into flame. Not half an hour before that video happened, my wife and 7 year old sun were eating their lunch in the car with the engine idling. I dread to think what could have happened if they had been overcome by fumes by a slower burning fire. If their concern for safety of their customers is so low I will continue to tell everyone about my experience, loudly and often. If i cost them 2 car sales I'll consider it good. If cost them more then I'll be ecstatic
 
Last edited:
davethehedgehog said:
Umm, that's great. Then why wouldn't Nissan be at least slightly interested in why a 4 month old car exploded for no apparent reason. Since their cars are so reliable. Surely if quality is such a big thing, they'd like to rectify any issues, or at least know problems weren't related to that. They didn't even look at the car or send any kind of technical investigator. Not even a bog standard mechanic.

It couldn't be that their concern for their liability outstrips their concern for their customer's safety, could it?

edit: To clarify, we were treat like absolute crap by Nissan. Not the dealer, Nissan directly. You wouldn't believe that a brand new car had just burst into flame. Not half an hour before that video happened, my wife and 7 year old sun were eating their lunch in the car with the engine idling. I dread to think what could have happened if they had been overcome by fumes by a slower burning fire. If their concern for safety of their customers is so low I will continue to tell everyone about my experience, loudly and often. If i cost them 2 car sales I'll consider it good. If cost them more then I'll be ecstatic
Click to expand...

The owner said the phone caught on fire. That means either the phone or charger was faulty and went up in flames. Why would Nissan give a shit someone started a fire in on of their cars and then it burned?

If a throw a flaming log into a Nissan, should they send out an investigator to see why the car caught on fire?
 
Ocellaris said:
The owner said the phone caught on fire. That means either the phone or charger was faulty and went up in flames. Why would Nissan give a shit someone started a fire in on of their cars and then it burned?
Click to expand...

Where a Nissan is concerned, I discount nothing. No flaming logs involved in my experience.

edit: also, it's interesting to note. If you look at the photo's of that car, the fire is definitely centred around the engine bay, just like ours. And, hey, no matter what at least Samsung are investigating the car. More than Nissan did for us.
 
Last edited:
davethehedgehog said:
Where a Nissan is concerned, I discount nothing. No flaming logs involved in my experience.

edit: also, it's interesting to note. If you look at the photo's of that car, the fire is definitely centred around the engine bay, just like ours. And, hey, no matter what at least Samsung are investigating the car. More than Nissan did for us.
Click to expand...

Is that really a surprise? The engine bay is where the high-pressure fuel lines are, so you'd expect it to be where things get toasty. It only takes one pinhole leak to ruin your day, especially if your vehicle has a turbo in it.
 
RealBeast said:
I noticed a few months ago that the wife's Galaxy 5 screen was coming off, so bought her a new phone. Then opened the bad one to get the sim and saw the problem -- the battery was about 3-4 times thicker than it started out. Figured that I would toss it rather than bite it to see if anything would happen. :eek:
Click to expand...


some time back i noticed the phone would not sit flat anymore as the back cover was slightly bowed. open it up and yep, it was the battery that had swollen up a bit. Replaced it and the phone is still good to go, with an even better battery


EDIT: its really nice being able to replace the battery..LOL
 
nutzo said:
Had a Nissan Maxima many years ago. 2nd worse car I've ever owned.
Based on that experience and their poor reliability ratings, I'd never buy one again.
Click to expand...

I'll counter that. Had an older Maxima, first generation with the 3.0V6. Drove it 200,000 miles. Most trouble free car I ever had. Other than normal maintenance, had to replace the starter at about 160,000 miles.

Just saying.
 
BSmith said:
I'll counter that. Had an older Maxima, first generation with the 3.0V6. Drove it 200,000 miles. Most trouble free car I ever had. Other than normal maintenance, had to replace the starter at about 160,000 miles.

Just saying.
Click to expand...

I was lucky because I bought the extended warranty. Back then (1985) many cars only came with a 1 year warranty.

Air conditioner compressor went out when it was about 2 years old.
Dealer "suggested" I pay $150 to install an extra heat shield to protect the compressor, otherwise it would go out again in a couple years. Not a recall, but it should have been.
Declined since my deductible on the extended warranty was $50, so it would be cheaper to just have it fixed again.

Motor mounts failed at around 2.5 years. Not covered since it's not something that should fail that quickly.

Transmission went out at 3 years. Loud noise then locked in 1st gear so at least I was able to limp home on surface streets.
Was never the same after that.
When I traded it in (after 4 years and less that 50k miles), I could tell the transmission was getting ready to fail again, but luckily it behaved when the dealer checked it out. :cautious:

Also had a failure in sunroof motor, but at least it was closed when the part failed.

Other than that, it was a great car :p
 
nutzo said:
I was lucky because I bought the extended warranty. Back then (1985) many cars only came with a 1 year warranty.

Air conditioner compressor went out when it was about 2 years old.
Dealer "suggested" I pay $150 to install an extra heat shield to protect the compressor, otherwise it would go out again in a couple years. Not a recall, but it should have been.
Declined since my deductible on the extended warranty was $50, so it would be cheaper to just have it fixed again.

Motor mounts failed at around 2.5 years. Not covered since it's not something that should fail that quickly.

Transmission went out at 3 years. Loud noise then locked in 1st gear so at least I was able to limp home on surface streets.
Was never the same after that.
When I traded it in (after 4 years and less that 50k miles), I could tell the transmission was getting ready to fail again, but luckily it behaved when the dealer checked it out. :cautious:

Also had a failure in sunroof motor, but at least it was closed when the part failed.

Other than that, it was a great car :p
Click to expand...

I have no doubt you had problems. It happens.

Worst car I ever had was a Volvo S60. It would randomly jump out of gear when you turned the sterring wheel more than 2 inches to the left, at any speed. It started doing that just out of warranty. We ended up having to sell it to a junk yard due to the liability issue with selling a car with known problems which could cause an accident. No one could fix it. Volvo's attitude was, "Oh well". I'll never own another Volvo, of any kind.

Talk to other owner's of S60's and they love them.

It is just the way it goes.

Only car company I have ever dealt with that makes you feel like they will stand behind their car is Lexus. At 125,000 miles the Wife's old Lexus got a brand new set of pistons and rings, on Lexus, because they said the previous design could (note: could) cause a buildup of carbon. Yeah, I'll buy another one of those.
 
BSmith said:
I have no doubt you had problems. It happens.

Worst car I ever had was a Volvo S60. It would randomly jump out of gear when you turned the sterring wheel more than 2 inches to the left, at any speed. It started doing that just out of warranty. We ended up having to sell it to a junk yard due to the liability issue with selling a car with known problems which could cause an accident. No one could fix it. Volvo's attitude was, "Oh well". I'll never own another Volvo, of any kind.
Click to expand...

Most reliable car was my previous Toyota.
Never had in in the shop (other than oil changes and tires) for the almost 11 years I owned it.
Had a relay go out in Air conditioning system. Easy fix once I figured out the cause.
Replace a motor mount after 9 years, also an easy fix I did myself.

Wife's Toyota Van has been in the shop once in 11.5 years, for a warranty repair on the defective airbag sensor, and a recall on the spare tire cable.

My current car? Another Toyota that's 5 years old and still no problems.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top