Li-Ion always gets a bad rap.
I think too often that blame is placed on the cells themselves or the Li-ion cell technology when there can be many factors that play into venting or bursting events. We have counterfeit cells and cells that are manufacturered with less than ideal standards and conditions, and the manufacturers who obviously overstate cell capabilities. When cells are incorporated in another piece of equipment with the expectation that it is being used in a safe manner, its not really the cell's fault if you exceed its limits and it bursts. Then theres the matter of charging circuits, which are many times added as an afterthought and/or poorly designed. Engineers always skimp on things like this in order to save on overall cost. To me the responsibility for these events happening should lie with cell manufacturers who overstate their products capabilities (knowing full well they are doing so), with companies who use these cells in other equipment without properly researching the cells capabilities themselves (or knowing what their
device requires worst case), and with designers who implement poorly designed charging circuitry just to save money. Li-Ion technology can be quite safe when used in a respectable manner, but when the bounds of physical limitations are pushed, no one should surprised when bad things result.
