A Message from Parts Masta...

[new_beginnings]

A little story/incident that occured to a good friend of my wife...

This DID NOT happen to me. Happened to a Friend of my Wife---a Co-Worker of hers. (I had a House for '07 and is NOT related to this story).


"As some of you may know, we had a pretty scary incident recently. Attached are pictures of what remains of our 2007 Suburban. We are all okay but I wanted to warn everyone not to make the same mistake I did.

THIS FIRE RESULTED FROM LEAVING AN IPHONE CHARGER/DOCKING STATION PLUGGED INTO THE CAR OUTLET. IT OVERHEATED AND STARTED A FIRE, WHILE PARKED IN OUR GARAGE. PLEASE UNPLUG ANYTHING YOU HAVE IN YOUR CAR OUTLETS ONCE YOU TURN OFF YOUR CAR!

We were VERY fortunate that we accidentally found the fire, at 11pm, before going to bed and before it spread to the house. None of our garage heat detectors or house fire alarms went off (another item to take care of on my to do list). The boys, Jonathan and I were pretty freaked out but we're all enjoying our new car at least.

Feel free to pass this along to anyone you want. Better safe than sorry.

Love"...

[JoshM]

Oh snap!

Insurance going to cover damage?

Glad you and your family caught it before it got worse

[vietkid_2006]

Damn. good thing everyone was okay

hope insurances covers your car good luck Trev

good info.

[acc0rd_adicti0n]

holy shit

[ibr_adam09]

I need to pass this along to my aunt. They own a 06' Suburban, with all their accessory plug- ins, and its parked in the Garage.

[CB7_91/DX]

Ooo sh*t, luckly you caught that early before it got worst.

[Dirty Harry]

Wicked meltage dude.

Why does everything Apple makes blow up, catch on fire or melt? Total and utter disregard for safety in the name of making things look cool.

iPods squirting flaming battery acid onto kids legs, laptop batteries catching fire, desktops creating a burning smell, macbook charger cable ends melting and burning people's hands, not to mention the fucking Apple TV that has NO COOLING WHATSOEVER...

Call them up, and simply mention the word FIRE. Show them the pictures and they will most likely offer you money to keep this quiet - they want more than anything to keep this kind of shit under wraps.

It's more serious than you think. They will definitely try to pay you off if they knew about this.

If it works, hey, you're welcome. Maybe buy me a sandwich or something.

[deevergote]

Trev, how many posts were made before you added the "This DID NOT happen to me. Happened to a Friend of my Wife---a Co-Worker of hers. (I had a House for '07 and is NOT related to this story)." part?

I have my iphone plugged into my laptop via USB in my car for many many hours at a time. I usually have it constantly drawing power to play Pandora Radio, though... so it's not really overcharging.

If the Suburban was anything like my Grand Prix was, the outlet probably continued to provide full power even when the car was off. The Grand Prix did that... and I was always afraid of killing my battery by leaving somehting plugged in. Overcharging a rechargeable electronic device can most certainly lead to a fire.

My Fit, on the other hand, cuts power to the outlet when the car is turned off. I leave my inverter plugged in all the time, with my GPS and laptop attached to it. No fires yet!

[ChIoVnIdCa]

I need to pass this along to my aunt. They own a 06' Suburban, with all their accessory plug- ins, and its parked in the Garage.

Nothing to do with the fact it was a suburban.

[PointBlank]

I'd sue the shit out of Apple.

[wed3k]

we dont know if the station was aftermarket or oem. either way oem parts are made in china. buy a LCD display and look ont he back of it. it's cheap pieces of shit that sell for a heap.

think walmart is bad?

[deevergote]

Nothing to do with the fact it was a suburban.

The fact that GM's outlet design provides constant power even when the engine is off is a BIG factor in this. An Iphone/Ipod isn't going to explode on its own if it's not being overcharged.

It's not Apple's fault. It's not GM's fault. It happened because the device was left connected to a constant power source, overcharged, overheated, and caught on fire.

It's a shame, and a good thing that the family didn't suffer any injury... but the blame is to be put more on the careless use of the device than anything else.

The warning is still valid, though. Not that "all iphone users have to be careful!" but moreso "don't neglect or misuse your equipment... and understand what you have"

[sunburn]

Looks like i wont be leaving my iphone charger in the outlet anylonger.

[npor]

Dang. I leave my iphone/ipod charger plugged in my car...just about all the time. I'll go outside right now and unplug it.

Thankfully no serious damage was done to the home, and nobody was hurt.

[wed3k]

so it's more of a personaly problem but the owner doesnt want to take responsibility?

sounds typical.

CB7's dont have this issue.