Laptop shoots spike into owner's hand
DVD drive part springs into action
Watching DVDs may be bad for your health - specially if the drive on your laptop decides to shoot you.
William Warner suffered horrendous hand injuries after his notebook spat out a sharp sliver of metal that pierced his palm, the New Zealand Herald reports.
The component in question was the optical drive's track-holder, an 11cm blade of sorts, clearly capable of inflicting stigmata-like injuries if thrust out at sufficient speed.
No one has been able to explain why the part flew out with such force. Toshiba, which made the laptop, was quick to point out the incredible rarity of such an accident, and insisted its products are safe.
Local Toshiba marketing chief Mariana Thomas told the paper: "Toshiba does not believe that the circumstances of the case raise any general safety issue with its products and stands behind their safety.
"We are not aware of any incident with a Toshiba product resulting in a person suffering injuries of a similar nature in New Zealand or elsewhere in the world."
Toshiba decided a fresh laptop was the way forward, and offered Warner a replacement. The 54-year-old is also seeking financial compensation, a process yet to be settled. ®
COMMENTS
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Damn! I know DVD technology was evil but I had no idea... DRM is really getting extreme.
... and that's just what happens
when you try and play an out of region DVD.
:D
agree
looking at the location of the injury, it is at the exact point where your hand would be if you were closing the tray with the palm of your hand. If he had been closing it at normal speed and temperament then a faulty tray would have at the most scratched him before he would have noticed and stopped applying force. However if he had slammed the tray shut out of frustration or anger then a faulty tray could easily have led to such an injury as the force and speed of said action would have been too great for him to react and stop in time. I suspect he accidentally applied a slight upward force which would have bent the tray upwards, dislodging it from the rail and shifting the plastic coverplate out of the way whilst jarring the rail in place and stopping it from retracting (cue CSI style slo-mo animation)
***Stares into camera, makes quippy remark and dons sunglasses before turning away ***
Won't somebody think of the DVD drives?
Maybe it wasn't evil, maybe it just REALLY didn't want to suffer through Van Helsing again?
I smell a dodgy compo-seeker....
This 11cm piece of steel passed through the dvd drive's casing, and still had enough kinetic energy to pierce the guy's hand? I can't think of any component in a dvd drive has the capacity to fire a missile with that sort of force - 20lb ft minimum.
