By now, most people have heard at least a couple of stories about e-cigarettes and vapes exploding. Whether it happens as someone is taking a puff, and it explodes in their face, or when it’s just sitting on a table minding its own business, the outcomes are horrifying. E-cigarettes typically use a lithium battery. What happens is the lithium battery heats up a metal coil that gets so hot it turns e-juice or vape juice into the vapor that we all see puffing out of the car window in front of us at a stop light. Often, the batteries aren’t wrapped or sealed properly, and this can lead to the vapes exploding.
Teen traumatized
One recent case in rural Nevada resulted in a 17-year-old boy resulted in a blast injury, shattering his jaw, knocking out several teeth and burning his gums. His mother had to drive five hours to a children’s hospital in Utah for treatment. Dr. Katie Russell, one of the trauma surgeons who treated the boy, described the injury in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Unexpected burns
Another case in Tonawanda, NY left a woman severely burned on her thighs, and she is now suing the vape shop where she purchased her e-cigarette. The woman said she purchased the e-cigarette from a local vape shop in Buffalo, NY called Planet Vape.
She said the day that she got her vape, it worked perfectly. However, the next day she was riding in a car with her boyfriend, and he took a puff from the vape. Shortly thereafter, he set the e-cigarette down in the cup holder of the car and it exploded. Two lithium batteries flew out of the cup holder and one landed on her thigh, severely burning her. When she finally shook it off, it landed on the floor of the passenger side of the car, and the carpet caught on fire. They are suing the vape shop for selling them a defective product, but the vape shop is saying that they should not be the ones held responsible. They claim that they are simply retailers and the manufacturer is to blame.
Why are e-cigarettes and vapes exploding?
So, why are e-cigarettes and vapes exploding? There are a few different things that can cause an explosion, such as using a different charger for an e-cigarette other than the one that is recommended, carrying spare batteries around in your pocket where it can come into contact with change, keys, or other metallic objects that can short circuit the battery, or even just a default in the battery itself.
Whatever the cause is in any particular case, it is extremely unfortunate for the people who experience injuries due to e-cigarette explosions. It is especially important, with e-cigarette use on the rise for youth, that the dangers of e-cigarettes and vapes exploding is more widely understood.
