This was, in turn, caused by the manufacture of the case: they didn't leave enough (or any?) expansion room for the battery, and since when charged they heat up and expand, and there wasn't room to expand, boom.

So, probably, the batteries in question, if packaged properly, would have been fine.

I do not know.

> can the same kind of thing happen to car or home batteries?

Of course. Lithium is a very reactive metal and will create fires in specific circumstances.