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I get the whole "cautionary tale" thing, but you should probably contact Apple to remedy both your personal loss and so that they have more information about fa

I get the whole "cautionary tale" thing, but you should probably contact Apple to remedy both your personal loss and so that they have more information about failing components. In my experience they take this stuff very seriously.

eddieroger 10y ago
Same. I had an issue with a failed charger many years ago, and in addition to getting a new charger, I was contacted by their product safety group for more information on how it was used to make it stronger in the future. Confirmed, they take product safety seriously. > In fact it could be happening to your battery right now. Yes, any lithium battery in any device could have this problem. Odds are good that it was swelling before it finally failed, and if the machine hadn't been restarted and instead had been checked, that may have been identified. Would this article be getting the same traction if it wasn't a MacBook?
- andy_ppp 10y ago
  You can't just open a Mac though and have a look, they use proprietary screws and it's unreasonable to assume that anyone would think before reading this article that their laptop could completely EXPLODE!
  - detaro 10y ago
    > it's unreasonable to assume that anyone would think before reading this article that their laptop could completely EXPLODE! Then they really haven't been paying attention, batteries exploding is mentioned regularly in media, makes for very popular Youtube videos, ... It's understandable that people don't expect it happening to them (it's fairly unlikely).
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- matclayton 10y ago
  I had the exact opposite experience, I went in to a store with a MacBook Pro (2013) which had morphed by a good 1-2cm's due to the battery expanding over the course of the previous hour. They refused to take it and insisted I book a genius appointment for the following week. After much insisting (30-40minutes) they finally agreed to take the battery and keep it in their safe for a week, until the first available genius appointment was available. There they said it was out of warranty as its a disposable part and therefore not covered by the AppleCare+ plan I had at the time. Genuinely it was the worst experience I've had in an apple store to date.
  - CalChris 10y ago
    You might have countered with I understand it isn't covered by AppleCare. I suppose we'll found out if it's covered by Apple liability.
    - pc86 10y ago
      But then we couldn't have snarky internet posts about how terrible Apple is!
      - koolba 10y ago
        True but we'd get snarky internet posts about the cleverness of their in-house legal defense team.
        JBReefer 10y ago
        "most valuable company on Earth sues man whose testicles they burned off" is about the worst PR possible
  - eddieroger 10y ago
    It's unfortunate that this was the experience you had. I imagine whomever you talked to was under the impression that hardware can't be taken that isn't accepted as part of a Genius Bar appointment, and didn't know the severity of what could happen would the battery fail. A training failure on Apple's part. That said, my cousin took a similar era MacBook to the Apple Store for swelling, and was able to see a Genius that afternoon and got a battery swap.
- tatoalo 10y ago
  >> If you have a MacBook be careful leaving it unattended on the bed. Beautiful line here. > Would this article be getting the same traction if it wasn't a MacBook? This.
  - soylentcola 10y ago
    I run across this all the time with (insert item that uses lithium batteries here). People ask "can't those things explode?!" Well, yeah, if it's got a lithium battery it can. That's why you buy batteries from reputable sources (or items with integrated batteries from reputable sources), don't charge them unattended, and be aware of anything getting warm or expanding.
    - gambiting 10y ago
      >>don't charge them unattended I really hope this is a joke, because I can't imagine having to watch over anything while charging it. I'm sure that almost everyone charges their phone and laptop when sleeping for instance.
      - kpil 10y ago
        Unfortunately, no joke. Minimally, do not charge things in a bed or covered by a blanket.
    - laythea 10y ago
      That's ridiculous. My 2015 MacBook gets warm/hot as a matter of course during the normal use of software. How am I supposed to know whether it is a precursor to an explosion or just normal usage? Apparently there is no way to know, and it is a matter of luck whether your <insert lithium charged device here> explodes. As a society why are we selling these things (not just apple) that can explode during normal usage. If a car manufacturer had an equivalent such design, the manufacturer would recall and fix said problem for free. And yes, if there is no "fix" then they should not sell this technology at all. I suspect that the tech-industry lobbyists would not agree.
- mikeash 10y ago
  > Would this article be getting the same traction if it wasn't a MacBook? There was a huge amount of attention, which included the things being banned on aircraft, for Samsung's fire-prone phones. Before that, it was "hoverboards." I think the answer is yes, it would.
  - ribosometronome 10y ago
    All popular devices will have a few that have this happen of the lifetime of the device. The Note 7 and hoverboards were exploding at a rate far higher than should be expected -- that was the news. For example, there was a video of an Inspiron exploding a few weeks ago that new made its way to HN (that I saw).
  - djsumdog 10y ago
    EgyptAir is investigating if a phone or tablet may have led to a crash of one of their jets: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/13/pilots-phone-tablet-batteries-may-have-caused-egyptair-crash/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/13/pilots-phone-tabl... There have been many devices that have come under scrutiny for their Li-Ion cells. At least few devices explode, and I'm not aware of any killing people, but many have had these meltdowns. Big Clive successfully took one apart without it going boomb if anyone is interested in what's inside of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI1eRy0uBI8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI1eRy0uBI8
    - kakwa_ 10y ago
      A few aircraft incidents/accidents were caused by batteries. There is of course the 787 of All Nippon Airway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_... And with battery as a cargo this time, there is a UPS 747: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6 It's funny/terrifying how we deeply need higher capacity batteries, with shorter charging time and greater energy density, but as a same time, it will probably lead to more unstable and more "prone to burst into flames" items...
- code_duck 10y ago
  I had a charger with cords that frayed quickly, but was slightly out of warranty. Not only were the people at the Apple store not concerned, they insisted it was entirely my fault, and were very rude to me. Then when I called and complained the manager said they'd give me a free replacement. Then, when I returned, it was a repeat of the first time - they blamed it on me, were not interested at all in my explanation of ow the charger was damaged, and were very rude.
- doctorwho 10y ago
  > Would this article be getting the same traction if it wasn't a MacBook? No, but then Apple often invites it by continuing to claim it's s#1t doesn't stink.
- mgkimsal 10y ago
  > Confirmed, they take product safety seriously Technically all that really confirms is that they take the PR/image aspect of safety seriously. May have been more a CYA than anything else. Yes, cynical view, I know.
- gnicholas 10y ago
  In 2016, I called Apple about a 2011 Macbook Air (purchased with AppleCare, expired in 2014) about its bulging battery. After a short conversation with a tier-2 support person, they agreed to replace the battery for free. They were also willing to replace the keyboard and bottom case, if there were any permanent deformations (there weren't). I took it in to my local Apple Store and they had it back to me in 48 hours. I'm sure this is a YMMV issue, so the best lesson is perhaps to call several times until you get a good answer.
Alex3917 10y ago
> In my experience they take this stuff very seriously. In my experience they tell you that your computer is at risk of catching on fire, but that they're not going to pay to replace your swelling battery.
- bartvk 10y ago
  > but that they're not going to pay to replace your swelling battery I don't think that's strange. Here in N/W Europe, warranties are quite good. However warranty on consumables such as batteries is only 6 months.
bradstewart 10y ago
My fiancee's older Macbook Pro (non-unibody) had a battery swelling issue. The bottom cover of the computer popped off in the middle of the night from the swelling. We went to the Apple store, and were told "you charged this battery too many times, we will replace it for $99." The computer was about 5 years old at the time.
- dkonofalski 10y ago
  That's an oversimplification. Macbooks tell you how many cycles the computer has left and give you a safety warning to have the battery serviced or replaced once you reach the 85% mark of usable cycles. You clearly ignored the service warning and/or the safety warning and continued to charge it. It wasn't a defective battery, it was the user ignoring (perhaps unintentionally) that their battery was no longer usable. Why should they replace it without charging for it?
parasj 10y ago
It used to be a mixed bag - it's good to hear that they've improved their attitude to battery issues. I remember taking a bulging in-warranty battery for a white unibody-era Macbook into the Valley Fair Apple Store and being told that it was my fault the battery was damaged. Genius bar wanted to charge for a battery swap and wouldn't dispose the battery for me if I didn't pay for the swap.
dean 10y ago
A few years back, I had a 6-year-old white uni-body MacBook with a swollen battery that was long out of warranty. I made an appointment at the Apple Store, and when I took it in, they took one look at the battery, gave me new battery and sent me on my way. They didn't even mention the word warranty. I was there for 5 minutes. I had zero expectations going in, so was quite happy and impressed with their response.
runjake 10y ago
They take it especially seriously when a story like this gains traction in the press. You get immediate escalation to the executive team.
cmg 10y ago
Agreed. In 2005, I worked for a company where there was an incident that led to the 2005 PowerBook G4/iBook G4 battery recall [0]. I worked on the IT helpdesk at the time, and though I wasn't working the late shift that night, we all found out about it the next morning. A woman called the helpdesk because her PowerBook had caught fire. (Side note: the department was very insistent on not having water/liquids near equipment, so she actually apologized for pouring water on her flaming laptop.) Thankfully she put it out immediately. Her desk was scorched and the laptop was burned beyond repair (but we did manage to get a DriveSavers-like company to recover most of the data on the HDD). The IT director called our Apple rep the next day and they immediately began a process of investigation. They paid to have the desk replaced, replaced the laptop and paid for the third-party data recovery. Granted this was 12 years ago and I wasn't involved in direct conversations with Apple myself as a lowly level 1 helpdesk technician, but from everything I saw they handled the situation completely professionally and seriously. The model number A1078 is forever etched into my mind. [0] https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2005/cpsc-apple-announce-recall-of-ibook-and-powerbook-computer-batteries https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2005/cpsc-apple-announce-recall...

eddieroger 10y ago

Same. I had an issue with a failed charger many years ago, and in addition to getting a new charger, I was contacted by their product safety group for more information on how it was used to make it stronger in the future. Confirmed, they take product safety seriously. > In fact it could be happening to your battery right now. Yes, any lithium battery in any device could have this problem. Odds are good that it was swelling before it finally failed, and if the machine hadn't been restarted and instead had been checked, that may have been identified. Would this article be getting the same traction if it wasn't a MacBook?

andy_ppp 10y ago
You can't just open a Mac though and have a look, they use proprietary screws and it's unreasonable to assume that anyone would think before reading this article that their laptop could completely EXPLODE!
- detaro 10y ago
  > it's unreasonable to assume that anyone would think before reading this article that their laptop could completely EXPLODE! Then they really haven't been paying attention, batteries exploding is mentioned regularly in media, makes for very popular Youtube videos, ... It's understandable that people don't expect it happening to them (it's fairly unlikely).
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
matclayton 10y ago
I had the exact opposite experience, I went in to a store with a MacBook Pro (2013) which had morphed by a good 1-2cm's due to the battery expanding over the course of the previous hour. They refused to take it and insisted I book a genius appointment for the following week. After much insisting (30-40minutes) they finally agreed to take the battery and keep it in their safe for a week, until the first available genius appointment was available. There they said it was out of warranty as its a disposable part and therefore not covered by the AppleCare+ plan I had at the time. Genuinely it was the worst experience I've had in an apple store to date.
- CalChris 10y ago
  You might have countered with I understand it isn't covered by AppleCare. I suppose we'll found out if it's covered by Apple liability.
  - pc86 10y ago
    But then we couldn't have snarky internet posts about how terrible Apple is!
    - koolba 10y ago
      True but we'd get snarky internet posts about the cleverness of their in-house legal defense team.
      - JBReefer 10y ago
        "most valuable company on Earth sues man whose testicles they burned off" is about the worst PR possible
- eddieroger 10y ago
  It's unfortunate that this was the experience you had. I imagine whomever you talked to was under the impression that hardware can't be taken that isn't accepted as part of a Genius Bar appointment, and didn't know the severity of what could happen would the battery fail. A training failure on Apple's part. That said, my cousin took a similar era MacBook to the Apple Store for swelling, and was able to see a Genius that afternoon and got a battery swap.
tatoalo 10y ago
>> If you have a MacBook be careful leaving it unattended on the bed. Beautiful line here. > Would this article be getting the same traction if it wasn't a MacBook? This.
- soylentcola 10y ago
  I run across this all the time with (insert item that uses lithium batteries here). People ask "can't those things explode?!" Well, yeah, if it's got a lithium battery it can. That's why you buy batteries from reputable sources (or items with integrated batteries from reputable sources), don't charge them unattended, and be aware of anything getting warm or expanding.
  - gambiting 10y ago
    >>don't charge them unattended I really hope this is a joke, because I can't imagine having to watch over anything while charging it. I'm sure that almost everyone charges their phone and laptop when sleeping for instance.
    - kpil 10y ago
      Unfortunately, no joke. Minimally, do not charge things in a bed or covered by a blanket.
  - laythea 10y ago
    That's ridiculous. My 2015 MacBook gets warm/hot as a matter of course during the normal use of software. How am I supposed to know whether it is a precursor to an explosion or just normal usage? Apparently there is no way to know, and it is a matter of luck whether your <insert lithium charged device here> explodes. As a society why are we selling these things (not just apple) that can explode during normal usage. If a car manufacturer had an equivalent such design, the manufacturer would recall and fix said problem for free. And yes, if there is no "fix" then they should not sell this technology at all. I suspect that the tech-industry lobbyists would not agree.
mikeash 10y ago
> Would this article be getting the same traction if it wasn't a MacBook? There was a huge amount of attention, which included the things being banned on aircraft, for Samsung's fire-prone phones. Before that, it was "hoverboards." I think the answer is yes, it would.
- ribosometronome 10y ago
  All popular devices will have a few that have this happen of the lifetime of the device. The Note 7 and hoverboards were exploding at a rate far higher than should be expected -- that was the news. For example, there was a video of an Inspiron exploding a few weeks ago that new made its way to HN (that I saw).
- djsumdog 10y ago
  EgyptAir is investigating if a phone or tablet may have led to a crash of one of their jets: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/13/pilots-phone-tablet-batteries-may-have-caused-egyptair-crash/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/01/13/pilots-phone-tabl... There have been many devices that have come under scrutiny for their Li-Ion cells. At least few devices explode, and I'm not aware of any killing people, but many have had these meltdowns. Big Clive successfully took one apart without it going boomb if anyone is interested in what's inside of them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI1eRy0uBI8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI1eRy0uBI8
  - kakwa_ 10y ago
    A few aircraft incidents/accidents were caused by batteries. There is of course the 787 of All Nippon Airway: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_787_Dreamliner_battery_... And with battery as a cargo this time, there is a UPS 747: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UPS_Airlines_Flight_6 It's funny/terrifying how we deeply need higher capacity batteries, with shorter charging time and greater energy density, but as a same time, it will probably lead to more unstable and more "prone to burst into flames" items...
code_duck 10y ago
I had a charger with cords that frayed quickly, but was slightly out of warranty. Not only were the people at the Apple store not concerned, they insisted it was entirely my fault, and were very rude to me. Then when I called and complained the manager said they'd give me a free replacement. Then, when I returned, it was a repeat of the first time - they blamed it on me, were not interested at all in my explanation of ow the charger was damaged, and were very rude.
doctorwho 10y ago
> Would this article be getting the same traction if it wasn't a MacBook? No, but then Apple often invites it by continuing to claim it's s#1t doesn't stink.
mgkimsal 10y ago
> Confirmed, they take product safety seriously Technically all that really confirms is that they take the PR/image aspect of safety seriously. May have been more a CYA than anything else. Yes, cynical view, I know.
gnicholas 10y ago
In 2016, I called Apple about a 2011 Macbook Air (purchased with AppleCare, expired in 2014) about its bulging battery. After a short conversation with a tier-2 support person, they agreed to replace the battery for free. They were also willing to replace the keyboard and bottom case, if there were any permanent deformations (there weren't). I took it in to my local Apple Store and they had it back to me in 48 hours. I'm sure this is a YMMV issue, so the best lesson is perhaps to call several times until you get a good answer.

Alex3917 10y ago

> In my experience they take this stuff very seriously. In my experience they tell you that your computer is at risk of catching on fire, but that they're not going to pay to replace your swelling battery.

bartvk 10y ago
> but that they're not going to pay to replace your swelling battery I don't think that's strange. Here in N/W Europe, warranties are quite good. However warranty on consumables such as batteries is only 6 months.

bradstewart 10y ago

My fiancee's older Macbook Pro (non-unibody) had a battery swelling issue. The bottom cover of the computer popped off in the middle of the night from the swelling. We went to the Apple store, and were told "you charged this battery too many times, we will replace it for $99." The computer was about 5 years old at the time.

dkonofalski 10y ago
That's an oversimplification. Macbooks tell you how many cycles the computer has left and give you a safety warning to have the battery serviced or replaced once you reach the 85% mark of usable cycles. You clearly ignored the service warning and/or the safety warning and continued to charge it. It wasn't a defective battery, it was the user ignoring (perhaps unintentionally) that their battery was no longer usable. Why should they replace it without charging for it?

parasj 10y ago

It used to be a mixed bag - it's good to hear that they've improved their attitude to battery issues. I remember taking a bulging in-warranty battery for a white unibody-era Macbook into the Valley Fair Apple Store and being told that it was my fault the battery was damaged. Genius bar wanted to charge for a battery swap and wouldn't dispose the battery for me if I didn't pay for the swap.

dean 10y ago

A few years back, I had a 6-year-old white uni-body MacBook with a swollen battery that was long out of warranty. I made an appointment at the Apple Store, and when I took it in, they took one look at the battery, gave me new battery and sent me on my way. They didn't even mention the word warranty. I was there for 5 minutes. I had zero expectations going in, so was quite happy and impressed with their response.

runjake 10y ago

They take it especially seriously when a story like this gains traction in the press. You get immediate escalation to the executive team.

cmg 10y ago

Agreed. In 2005, I worked for a company where there was an incident that led to the 2005 PowerBook G4/iBook G4 battery recall [0]. I worked on the IT helpdesk at the time, and though I wasn't working the late shift that night, we all found out about it the next morning. A woman called the helpdesk because her PowerBook had caught fire. (Side note: the department was very insistent on not having water/liquids near equipment, so she actually apologized for pouring water on her flaming laptop.) Thankfully she put it out immediately. Her desk was scorched and the laptop was burned beyond repair (but we did manage to get a DriveSavers-like company to recover most of the data on the HDD). The IT director called our Apple rep the next day and they immediately began a process of investigation. They paid to have the desk replaced, replaced the laptop and paid for the third-party data recovery. Granted this was 12 years ago and I wasn't involved in direct conversations with Apple myself as a lowly level 1 helpdesk technician, but from everything I saw they handled the situation completely professionally and seriously. The model number A1078 is forever etched into my mind. [0] https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2005/cpsc-apple-announce-recall-of-ibook-and-powerbook-computer-batteries https://www.cpsc.gov/Recalls/2005/cpsc-apple-announce-recall...