Xbox controller catching fire :-o

[Mike Fishcake]

Just had this conversation with a friend:

Katrina says: (10:20:03)
Yesterday Adam was playing a car racing game on the X box and he had been on it long enough so I told him to turn it off but wouldnt and clutched the controller towards him so I went to take it away.................

Katrina says: (10:20:53)
and as I grabbed it a flame shot out the bit where the wire that attaches to the xbox and the actual bit you hold meet in the back

Katrina says: (10:21:08)
Was about 2 inches long and it fizzled and burnt the plastic and my finger.

Katrina says: (10:21:44)
Adam plays with the controller resting on his lap and if that had done that while he was playing he would probably have gone up in flames 

Mike Thorpe says: (10:45:31)
bloody hell 

Katrina says: (10:49:27)
it's a scary thought

Mike Thorpe says: (10:50:51)
i think that needs bringing to the attention of Microsoft. Seriously.

Mike Thorpe says: (10:51:05)
is your finger scarred?

Katrina says: (10:51:33)
have said that to tim and he said he would try and find some contact details etc

Katrina says: (10:52:13)
I grabbed the controller and ran through the house and chucked it out the back door. Adam was hysterical cos he thought I was throwing it outside because he wouldnt turn it off. Poor monkey

Mike Thorpe says: (10:52:36)
have you got the controller still?

Katrina says: (10:52:40)
no it just kind of scorched my finger. It's better today

Katrina says: (10:52:47)
yes

Mike Thorpe says: (10:53:21)
so it actually caught fire?

Katrina says: (10:54:20)
yep a flame shot out the bit that connects the wire to the controller. right at the join

Any idea who they need to contact to report this? it's an official MS controller BTW. A few years old, so it is out of warranty, but regardless of the warranty situation, still something that should be sorted.

[Steven W]

Try this one: 0800 587 1102

It's the Xbox support desk. They should be able to point you in the right direction.

Let us know how you get on! Sounds nasty.

[Mike Fishcake]

Cheers, I'll pass it on, and post what happens.

[kempez]

I'd contact some lawyers: they could make a bloody mint

[5lab]

well it coudlnt, because no money has been lost as a result of the incident. i strongly doubt the controller would cause someone to catch fire, it sounds as if someones yanked the cable backwards and causes a short circuit as a result. not sure if she actually means a fire, or just a electric current.

[kempez]

And you would have thought a label on Hot coffee from Mac D's stating it was hot would be enough to stop them being sue'd wouldn't it

1st degree burns^

[BUFF]

well it coudlnt, because no money has been lost as a result of the incident..

ah, but shock, personal suffering etc. ...

[Mike Fishcake]

well it coudlnt, because no money has been lost as a result of the incident. i strongly doubt the controller would cause someone to catch fire, it sounds as if someones yanked the cable backwards and causes a short circuit as a result. not sure if she actually means a fire, or just a electric current.

They're not the type of people to sue someone to make a quick buck. As for the controller - I don't think it was just a spark.

[Agent]

These things run off 5v, and having taken many of them apart, i just dont know what could have caused a flame to happen like that.

[5lab]

And you would have thought a label on Hot coffee from Mac D's stating it was hot would be enough to stop them being sue'd wouldn't it

1st degree burns^

it is. mcdonalds put that on their coffee AFTER being sued because the container had no warning, and the lady was caused loss of work/medical expenses etc as a result. no monitary loss here, thus nothing to sue over.

even if the house had burned down etc, not necessarily possible to sue - you can only do that if you can proove m$ have been negligent - if they've put out over 100,000,000 controllers, this is the first one to burst into flame (after 3 years) then its pretty unliekly you can prove this to be the case. it is worth reporting to m$, if nothing else to see if they'll replace the controller for free (they probably will to get their mits on the old one), other than that theres not much to do

[kempez]

The suit lie in the fact that Macdonalds supplied the coffee far too hot - 188degrees farenheit and the burns came from that. Looking at the case noites it doesn't actually say specifically that it said "Hot" on it but I thought it did. Ah well.

A court with a Jury could well decide M$ had been negligent if enough evidence was presented....may not work but hey it was only a j/k

[autopilot]

These things run off 5v, and having taken many of them apart, i just dont know what could have caused a flame to happen like that.

Thats the first thing i thought, totally bizare, i just cant understand how that could happen. It's almost imposible. I did a little google, but nothing came up (although i did not look very far). Very strange.

[BiggehXP]

loooooooooool

[BrandX]

Sounds like the little magical leprechaun inside that runs it, dropped his ciggy.

[Zedmeister]

Brings a whole new dimension if you're playing a multiplayer death match...

[Hench18]

I found this thread after googling the subject. My 10 year old daughter today was playing and said a "lighter like flame" came out of the controller in the exact same spot as was described in the post above. It was not a spark, not a leprechaun, and not a broken controller, it was a flame that scorched the wiring and could have caused a dangerous situation.

I'm not the type that would take legal action for something so simple, but getting the controllers replaced might be nice.

Any information on what happened with this problem would be apppreciated.