It seems that chargers are growing to be more and more of a fire hazard these days, as the latest incident involves an iPad charger which was said to have exploded the hand of a man, throwing him across the room as he unplugged the device. The man was thankful that it was him who received the electric shock instead of his 8-year old daughter, where he believed that the same shock would have killed her instead. Tim Gillooley, 34, is the victim in this case, and this was his recollection on what happened, “There was a huge bang and it blew me across the room. I was in shock. I was hysterically laughing for about two minutes. It was a bad shock that went down my arm. My mum was panicking and Chloe burst into tears. Nine times out of 10, Chloe would have gone to get it herself. I think it would have killed her.”
The iPad was purchased last November from the Apple store in Liverpool, but it apparently developed charging issues a few months after that. Despite returning the charger to the Apple store, he was told that the charger worked just fine, but deciding against taking any chances, he picked up a new genuine Apple charger complete with the Lightning cable, hoping that the problem would be solved this way – but it continued. Perhaps it is the power outlet that caused the charger to act this way?