WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), today announced it is issuing an emergency order to ban all Samsung washing machine devices from air transportation in the United States. Individuals who own or possess a Samsung washing machine device may not transport the device on their person, in carry-on baggage, or in checked baggage on flights to, from, or within the United States. This prohibition includes all Samsung washing machine devices. The washing machines also cannot be shipped as air cargo. The ban will be effective on Saturday, November 5, 2016, at noon ET.

I guess you could say Samsung really exploded this year

And this is why I like my older tech washing machines. At least everything was bolted down instead of tabbed and roll-fit. Unbalanced load? Just walk over to it, lift the lid, re-adjust, close lid. No worries about a broken jaw from the top flying off.

Was the washing machine division taking notes from the mobile division?

Maybe it's a systemic problem and they neglected quality control after previous successes. A classic example of why you should never neglect quality control. The alternative costs more by orders of magnitude.

The recall covers machines since 2011, so whatever issue they have is probably not new.

Is a recall of this size (just like the Note 7) a cost companies try to cover with a special insurance they set up in advance or usually pay themselves?