On August 20th, an intercity bus from Lai ‘an County, Anhui Province to Nanjing Forest Farm Station caught fire while driving. Two passengers were killed in the fire, and five others were partially burned. After preliminary investigation, the cause of the fire was the spontaneous combustion of a lithium battery carried by a passenger.After screening and investigation 隔膜 It is likely to become a new force driving economic development. https://www.canrud.com/products?keyword=separator
In recent years, battery explosions have been frequently searched, which are not far away from us. The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) looked up 1092 complaints about “battery explosion” and “battery spontaneous combustion” on the black cat complaint platform, and found that battery explosion would appear on electric cars, mobile phones and even children’s toys. And 276 refereeing documents about “battery explosion” revealed that even if consumers sue businesses, the proportion of final compensation is limited and the litigation takes too long.
The battery explosion is around.
After reading 1092 complaints, we found that mobile phone batteries are the high-risk areas for battery explosion, followed by remote control and electric vehicle batteries. “There was a loud noise in my sleep, and I found that the battery of the air conditioner remote controller exploded, and I couldn’t hear the sound instantly, and the bedside table also blew a corner.” Some netizens wrote on the black cat complaint platform.
These complaints about battery explosion, ranging from daily digital products and daily necessities to vehicles and accessories, are closely related to people’s daily life.
On the platform of Little Red Book, many netizens shared similar experiences. Netizen @know4014 said: “The battery No.5 that has been placed on the table suddenly exploded, just like a firecracker was placed in front of it.” Netizen @ Bangbangbutang didn’t find the source of the explosion at first. “I thought it was mom’s sour bean jar that exploded.” After several searches, I found that it was two batteries No.5. Netizen @QIAO woke up in his sleep. “The battery directly pushed out of the back cover of the air conditioner remote control and flew over my head.” Although it did not cause serious damage, it also left him a psychological shadow.
Relevant complaint data show that the consequences of battery explosion are different, ranging from minor property losses to serious personal injuries. Some consumers said that after the battery spontaneously ignited and exploded, a large number of items in the shoe cabinet were stained and smelled, the cabinet was blackened, and toxic smoke even caused the fire station to go out. He and the landlord fell into a dispute for this. What is more serious is that some consumers have been injured in the stomach and have severe abdominal pain and dizziness.
According to reports, before the Nanjing intercity bus fire accident, passengers carrying lithium batteries put them in their backpacks and got on the bus, but the bus driver did not find them at that time. After the fire was found during driving, the driver pulled over the car and opened the door for passengers to evacuate. Due to the large fire, some passengers could not escape in time, eventually causing 2 deaths and 5 injuries.
Consumer rights protection is difficult: it is difficult to prove.
In the daily complaints about battery explosion, almost no consumers’ rights protection is very smooth.
Consumers often don’t realize it until they defend their rights. The simple online shopping process makes it difficult for them to find out who will bear the responsibility for the battery explosion. On the black cat complaint, some consumers spoke out about the experience of communicating with the merchants. “I waited for nearly 2 months, but I didn’t give any reply. I just said that I should wait. I don’t know when it is, so I should wait.” There are also consumers who have to post on public platforms for help because they have been blacked out by merchant customer service: “The customer service attitude is extremely poor and (very) arrogant. After admitting that they are fakes and frauds, they directly blacked out consumers.”
Among the above complaints, only about 6.4% of consumers can successfully defend their rights. They can only rely on online shopping platforms to contact merchants, and it is difficult to advance their rights protection to the next step. In the long wait, victims often give up their rights protection because of the cost of time and energy, while businesses continue to sell products with unknown quality.
The road to litigation: limited compensation and long time-consuming
In the end, some consumers who suffered heavy losses could not afford the follow-up expenses, and they had to go to court under the prevarication of the platform and merchants.
Among the 276 refereeing documents about “battery explosion”, we selected 81 documents belonging to disputes between merchants and consumers. Through these instruments, we can find out the reasons for the success or failure of battery explosion prosecution.
Among these documents, “the cause of explosion and fire is unknown” has become the most commonly used reason for refusing to pay compensation, while the lack of evidence and the use of consumers themselves may make consumers lose the case.
This road to litigation takes a long time, requires a lot of energy, and may not be compensated. Among the 81 judgment documents, more than half of consumers have gone through two or more court trials, and about 77% of consumers have gone through more than one year from the explosion to the end of rights protection.
Sometimes, even if the court finds that the main cause of battery explosion is battery quality, consumers still have to bear part of the responsibility.
In the documents we have counted, the problem of “improper use” by consumers ranks first-some consumers charge indoors, use mismatched chargers, and consumers change the structure of their own houses, which may lead to battery fire and explosion. For example, a civil judgment of first instance shows: “The direct cause of the fire in this case is the failure of lithium battery, but the plaintiff changed the original house use, illegally occupied people, changed the stair form, removed the indoor fire hydrant, and installed an anti-theft grille outside the window, which made it difficult for people to escape and rescue.”
In addition, “failure to fulfill the duty of care” has also become an important factor for the court to determine the responsibility of consumers. Simply put, in the battery explosion, if consumers do not notice the existing safety hazards, they may also bear legal responsibility.
A civil judgment of the second instance shows that the prosecutor did not read the battery reading instructions carefully, which led to improper protection and he had to bear part of the responsibility. The judgment mentioned in detail that “experts suggested that the battery should be equipped with protective glasses and the battery should be affixed with safety warning signs. Upon inquiry, the consumer said that he saw the warning sign, but did not pay attention to it. It was seen that the consumer did not read the instruction manual carefully before using the battery involved, and he should bear 20% responsibility for his failure to fulfill his duty of safety care. “
It can be seen that if you want to avoid battery explosion, in addition to the efforts of merchants in product quality, consumers’ own awareness of fire safety is also very important.