Hyperdrive
Battery Shipping Loophole Exposed by FedEx Fire, NTSB Warns
- Batteries that ignited were shipped on two FedEx flights
- Fire exposed lax rule allowing shipments to evade tests: NTSB
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A fire that destroyed a FedEx Corp. truck in Canada exposed a loophole in lithium-battery testing standards that could have led to a fatal blaze on a flight, U.S. investigators said.
The shipment by Braille Battery Inc. of Sarasota, Florida, in 2016 had earlier prompted federal regulators to charge the company with violating shipping rules. But, since the batteries were low-production models, they were exempt from more rigorous safety tests and shipping rules, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded on Monday.