"Mr Bennett insists he did purchase the device from a well-known shop but still his product was faulty."
"Michael Bennett received treatment in hospital for 10 days in February after his device exploded in his pocket whilst roller skating with his son.
Faulty in what way? Was the device a
mech mod with a bottom firing button? If so, that's sort of a user error. The majority of mech mods are bottom firing, and because of this should never be transported in a pocket where the fire button can be accidently fired. Over discharge of a battery due to accidental prolonged compression of the fire button will cause a battery to vent or explode.
Did the mod have ventilation holes in case the battery vents? Most mech mods have inadequate ventilation holes, thus if a battery vents the mod becomes a pipe bomb. How many vapers are aware of this information? Whose responsibility is it to educate vapers? I believe a fair amount of responsibility falls upon the consumer to educate themselves, but manufacturers and vendors are also responsible by designing and selling gear that is designed to be safer. If your mechanical mod doesn't have vent holes, then maybe you should consider finding a machine shop to drill press vent holes in your mech.
It is common belief in the vaping community that most of the mod explosions in the last couple of years have occured to twenty-something males
using an incompatible atomizer with a direct battery mechanical mod (incorrectly known as a hybrid mod). This sets up a situation where the battery will hard short and explode. Whose responsibility is it to warn consumers about this? Certainly vendors should, but again a fair amount of responsibility falls upon the consumer to know their equipment.
In a mechanical mod with a metal piston switch and no wiring, your weak link is the battery. This is not a link you want to break while it is in close proximity to your hand or face. Over taxing a battery in a mech can create a little pipe bomb.
There are risks with lithium-ion batteries if misused or short-circuited, and there have been several incidents and some injuries. But this is a common challenge across many types of battery-powered
devices. We've all seen the media reports of cell phone batteries exploding or catching on fire.
Too many people are jumping into mechanical
mods without understanding what they are getting into and not realizing it is not a care-free
device like an eGo or
Provari. It requires more attention to details and a better understanding of all the variables. Too often people on forums say, " Mech mods are easy, just drop a battery in and go. I don't understand why others say it is not for beginners." Because if you don't understand all the things you need to watch for there is a serious chance of something possibly going terribly wrong down the road.
Mech mods are not learning devices. They need to be understood
before you begin to experiment with them. So far most novices have been lucky. However, some people don't check the batteries they use, don't know what resistance their
coils are, don't know how to work an Ohm's Law calculation, etc, and nothing has happened, giving a false
sense of security to others to try the same things, but all it will take is one bad coil or one bad battery to change someone's face forever.
I've been a safety advocate on this forum for over 4 years. I attempt to educate and inform vapers concerning battery and mod safety. Manufacturers of mechanical mods have a long way to go to make their products safer for uninformed users. Using recessed side fire buttons instead of bottom fire buttons, and placing vent holes in the top area of the mod (where batteries vent) are just two designs that would drop the number of mod explosions. Vendors must do a much better job of educating new vapers as to safe vaping practices. Battery re-wrappers must stop over-rating their battery specifications to lure consumers to buy their batteries; perhaps the battery industry needs to be regulated for truth in advertising.
When it comes to advanced mass marketed systems like cell phones, laptops and hybrid electric cars the system designers of those products have taken appropriate steps to make them "safe" for uninformed end-user use. Purely mechanical unregulated ecig battery mods and uninformed end-users is a dicey proposition.
Most consumer battery operated devices are no where near the limit of the batterys operating limits. The high-end flashlights and ecigs and RCtoys come to mind as applications that really push the limits. With the RCtoys the device is physically far removed from the person so a mishap is inconsequential. With ecigs a mishap is literally in the persons face.
reminds me of the movie I watched last night... 
