I can belive the exploding laptop batteries. I've had saftey recalls from Nikon on some batches of Lithium Ion rechargables, which had a tendancy to burst in to flames or explode when charged. I don't know the chemistry behind it, but the fact it is a batch thing implies slack quality control to me.

Bill you're right. You were thinking about more radical changes to car useage and ownership patterns than I was. Of course, we could both be right....