Apple Allegedly Covers Up Battery Problems

(MoneyWatch)  I've reported before about a long-term problem that Apple iPhones have seemed to have with iPhones overheating, though the company hasn't publicly acknowledge the extent of the issue. According to some, the major cause is likely a battery issue. Well, a Seattle reporter is claiming that Apple has been preventing her and others from getting information to document reports of iPod batteries catching fire:

It took more than 7-months for KIRO 7 Consumer Investigator Amy Clancy to get her hands on documents concerning Apple's iPods from the Consumer Product Safety Commission because Apple's lawyers filed exemption after exemption. In the end, the CPSC released more than 800 pages which reveal, for the very first time, a comprehensive look that shows, on a number of occasions, iPods have suddenly burst into flames, started to smoke, and even burned their owners.

Some of the records allegedly show that Apple has known about the problem and that it goes back at least as far as 2006. And, according to the report, "Apple's lawyers filed exemption after exemption" in an attempt to keep the Consumer Product Safety Commission from releasing any information to the reporter.

Burning house image via Flickr user 111 Emergency, CC 2.0.