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New Rule Limits Lithium Batteries in Carry-on Baggage

Batteries can start hard-to-fight fires

By Truman Lewis
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 2, 2008

There have been at least nine fires involving lithium batteries on airplanes or in cargo destined for planes since 2005, federal safety records indicate.

Passengers are still allowed to carry the batteries in checked baggage if they are installed in electronic devices, or in carry-on baggage if stored in plastic bags.

Common consumer electronics such as travel cameras, cell phones, and most laptop computers are still allowed in carry-on and checked luggage.

But the rule limits travelers to bringing only two extended-life spare rechargeable lithium batteries, such as laptop and professional audio/video/camera equipment lithium batteries in carry-on baggage.

“Doing something as simple as keeping a spare battery in its original retail packaging or a plastic zip-lock bag will prevent unintentional short-circuiting and fires,” said Krista Edwards, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Series of fires

Lithium batteries are considered hazardous materials because they can overheat and ignite in certain conditions, and there has been a series of fires and meltdowns involving laptops, cell phones and other electronic devices in recent years.

In 2006, a man in South Venice, Fla. blamed his Dell laptop for burning down his house. Last year, a Macbook was blamed for a house fire in Australia.

In one of the most celebrated cases, a Dell laptop was blamed for setting fire to a pickup truck parked in a remote mountainous area in Nevada last August. The fire not only destroyed the truck but set off a box of ammunition its outdoorsman owner had left in the glove compartment while he went fishing.

Fires hard to fight

Safety testing conducted by the FAA found that current aircraft cargo fire suppression system would not be capable of suppressing a fire if a shipment of non-rechargeable lithium batteries were ignited in flight.

“This rule protects the passenger,” said Lynne Osmus, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) assistant administrator for security and hazardous materials. “It’s one more step for safety. It’s the right thing to do and the right time to do it.”

Two kinds

Lithium batteries come in two forms. The lithium metal batteries are single-use and the lithium-ion can be recharged. Both store energy that generates intense heat in the event of a short circuit, if metal touches both terminals or if internal seals fail.

In many cases, low-cost or counterfeit batteries lack safeguards against short circuits. More than 4 million lithium batteries of all sorts have been recalled in recent years.

Bulk shipments of lithium metal batteries were banned on passenger flights in 2004, in part because fires in those batteries are especially hard to extinguish.

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