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SaferProducts incident

Official U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission consumer incident report from the SaferProducts.gov public database. Use the verification links below to confirm the record on SaferProducts.gov or via the public database export.

Product

Apple AirPods4

Category

Kitchen Appliance

Report number

20260225-E9C9B-2147323270

Ownership age

About 5 months to failure (from purchase date when reported)

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20260225-E9C9B-2147323270. Severity: Injury, Seen by Medical Professional. Product: Apple AirPods4 (Apple AirPods 4 wireless earbuds with charging case. White color, standard dimensions. The product suffered a catastrophic thermal failure (melting) during charging.). Incident: On February 13, 2026, my Apple AirPods 4 (Serial: DJGT4TF56W) suffered a severe thermal failure while charging. I used an original Apple 20W power brick and an original Apple woven USB-C cable (from an iPhone box). The device began to smoke and melt. I sustained a thermal burn to my finger while attempting to disconnect the melting unit. Injury and Impact: Due to the equipment failure, I was left without hearing protection during a 12-hour high-noise shift in a Data Center. This resulted in a documented 21dB hearing loss and persistent tinnitus (confirmed by Apple Hearing Test). Manufacturer Negligence (Apple Case ID: [REDACTED]): I reported this to Apple on Feb 16. The company has repeatedly failed to meet its own safety deadlines (48-72 hours, then 2 business days). During my last interaction on Feb 21: I provided macro-photos of the original Apple cable with its serial number, proving no third-party accessories were involved. The Senior Advisor ([REDACTED]) abruptly terminated the chat session without providing a resolution or safety instructions. Representative [REDACTED] admitted they "don't have an exact time frame" for a response and couldn't guarantee that the engineering team would ever respond. As of today, Feb 25, Apple has completely ignored this fire hazard and my physical injuries. I am filing this to create a permanent federal record of this dangerous product defect and Apple's gross negligence in handling a safety report.

This is a consumer incident report published on SaferProducts.gov. CPSC does not guarantee the accuracy of information submitted by people outside of CPSC. It is not automatically an official recall or manufacturer admission.
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Official report number: 20260225-E9C9B-2147323270. Search that ID on SaferProducts.gov or match it in the CPSC public database export to verify this record.