Lithium battery dangers mean Samsung recall won’t be last

A faulty battery just cost Samsung a pile of money and tarnished its reputation.

But the Korean electronics giant wasn’t the first company forced to recall a product due to batteries that had a tendency to catch fire — not by a long shot. And it almost certainly won’t be the last.

That’s because the same type of batteries that powered Samsung’s now-recalled Note 7 smartphone are used far and wide not only in mobile devices, but also in a wide variety of other products including, increasingly, in things like cars and homes. And that battery type — lithium ion — is inherently dangerous, potentially getting more so and almost certainly won’t be replaced anytime soon.