16 ms·

My MacBook Pro exploded and burst into flames

297 points by mrzool 7y ago

RaSoJo 7y ago
For those wondering - it is the 2015 MBP Retina 15" https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/bulbhv/my_macbook_pro_exploded_and_burst_into_flames/epe2rz1/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/bulbhv/my_macbook_pr...
- ngngngng 7y ago
  I would put money down that his serial number is not included in the recent recall. As usual, Apple seems to be in denial of the extent of the issues.
  - 1123581321 7y ago
    Would you agree to bet a donation (the EFF or something else you like?) We can ask the reddit user to check their serial.
mekpro 7y ago
And Apple just announced the battery recall https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/20/apple-2015-macbook-pro-recall-program/ https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/20/apple-2015-macbook-pro-...
- jchw 7y ago
  It’ll be interesting to compare the public reception of this incident versus the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 event, especially given Apple’s PR prowess. Seems like a similar sort of incident, though maybe even rarer to actually encounter given how old the laptops are now.
  - vallsurf 7y ago
    The difference here is a single (known) instance of a 4 year old product vs widespread issues with a brand new one on release.
    - jchw 7y ago
      All we know is that there's one incident, and now there is a recall. If there was no endemic issue, there should not reasonably be a recall; there's been handfuls of stories about iPhones burning up that have not ended up resulting in recalls, presumably because they're isolated issues. I don't actually know how many Note 7's burnt up before they recalled, but I don't think it was ever very many. The main difference in this case is whatever issue exists, it was relatively benign for at least four years, which I agree hints that the issue is far less severe. But of course, no less dangerous.
    - bilbo0s 7y ago
      Well, I think it's more likely that the fact that it's a notebook will make this less of a PR issue. HN is kind of a unique place, but out in reality land the set of people who take their 15" notebook with them everywhere, including the airplane, is much smaller than the number of people who take their phones with them everywhere. So it's hard to capture the public imagination with a notebook. Apple releasing a new phone is an event not only for a lot of developers, but also for your average teeny bopper and housewife. Apple releasing a brand new laptop is just... not.
      - makomk 7y ago
        Also, most people aren't going to grab a camera and start filming when their laptop catches fire in their house so they can post it to the internet. That limits the number of videos like this you'd expect compared to a similar smartphone fault, which is more likely to happen in public with other people standing around idle that might film it. I'd venture a guess that this is very far from being the first such fault in four years, especially given how willing Apple was to announce a recall.
        zaarn 7y ago
- scotty79 7y ago
  I just replaced battery myself last year because it swollen to really nasty size. It prevented touchpad from working. And the laptop didn't rest on its legs when it was on flat surface. Same model.
- amarshall 7y ago
  That recall is for a different model than OP’s.
mrzool 7y ago
Related to: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20235259 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20235259
grumdan 7y ago
I wonder if they have grounds to sue, over Apple producing an unsafe product.
- dijit 7y ago
  I find that to be very unlikely. Batteries are known to have failure modes that include explosion. It’s certainly not unique to this laptop, or even laptops alone. This is the only case I’ve heard about and it’s a 4year old laptop that had been repaired. As such I don’t think it’s a fault in the design, necessarily.
WalterBright 7y ago
My desktop caught fire once. I pulled the plug and the fire went out. Turns out the graphics card burst into flames. That had never happened to me before in 40 years of desktops. I had a fair amount of smoke damage that needed cleaning up. Now it sits on a piece of sheet steel instead of the wood floor. Edit: I usually assemble my desktop cases from mail order parts. This desktop happened to have a metal case rather than a plastic one - my future builds will all be metal cases.
- llampx 7y ago
  > I usually assemble my desktop cases from mail order parts. Doesn't everybody? I mean unless you are building a case from scratch. I also don't know of any plastic desktop cases, they're either steel or aluminum.
  - WalterBright 7y ago
    > I also don't know of any plastic desktop cases I have many in the basement housing older desktops.
    - jessaustin 7y ago
      Yeah plastic seemed more common in the past. If I had to speculate, I would say that as all the guts got cheaper and cheaper, and at some point a fairly low-powered desktop was more than most people would need, manufacturers didn't want to drop the price of the system any lower. At the same time they had to keep margins reasonable in order to compete. So, they spent more on the case.
    - paranoidrobot 7y ago
      My first PC - an Acer 486 had a plastic case. It's also why I kinda screwed up the construction of my second PC - studied the construction of the acer one, saw it was screwed into the case. So I screwed the new motherboard into the new case... I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't power on. Took it to a friend's place, he just about fell over laughing when he realised I'd missed the copper risers.
busymom0 7y ago
Note that this is a 22 day old Reddit post (seems relevant as it’s few weeks before the battery replacement program announcement).
- neogodless 7y ago
  Yes - I'm finding it rather unfulfilling that there's no update as to what the resolution was! "If you don't talk about this incident any more on social media, here's a shiny new MacBook Pro. Otherwise, you get the ashes of your old laptop." OK just spitballing because we have no idea if they offered up a replacement or left him in the lurch.
  - jmull 7y ago
    You write like it's a bad thing, but if this is resolved by Apple doing right by their customer, isn't that a good thing? Obviously, that is a rage post (understandably). OP seems to no longer be enraged... problem solved, right?
    - neogodless 7y ago
      My opinion is that it would be helpful to the public to know how Apple is handling the situation. Maybe they aren't obligated to inform us, and the individual is not obligated to keep us up to date either, but I would like to know how things turned out.
vishnugupta 7y ago
Seems like the person filing is inhaling a fair bit of smoke. Wonder how toxic that is.
- origami777 7y ago
  That was my first thought. I'd be out of there. Though you might want to ensure its not going to catch that floor on fire.
DigitalTerminal 7y ago
First a samsung phone and now this.
coldtea 7y ago
>I produce music for a living - FIVE days without my computer is unacceptable Then get two computers as a backup? While here it's Apple's issue, it could just as well be your fault that the laptop died (e.g. dropping it). Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable"...
- agumonkey 7y ago
  Yeah, professional mindset grants for backup plans. Unless you like walking on wires.
- tpetry 7y ago
  If a working MacBook would really be as strictly needed as he states it (earning his living with it). He could have simply bought a new one, not able to work for a week may be more financial damage. And Apple has a 14 day return policy, he is absolutely overstating the impact a missing macbook has for him!
  - SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
    "Just buy a new one" would be my personal approach too, but at least I have the humility to understand that not everyone is as fortunate as me.
- tiew9Vii 7y ago
  I’m guessing if it was their fault and they damaged the machine to an extent it wasn’t useable they’d go out and buy a replacement on the spot, spare computers take up space and money, especially if they are sat in a box for just in case which may never come vs walking in to a store and walking out with one there and then. It’s common to get given temporary mobile phones if in for manufacturers warranty repair so why not offer it for laptops?
  - fpoling 7y ago
    Many people cannot imagine live without phones. Computers at home on the other hand are not perceived as a necessity. And at work typically there is a spare PC or some other way to survive while the computer is under repair.
jen729w 7y ago
Also in the news today, many houses caught fire due to electrical faults. [0] Things go wrong. The world isn’t perfect. There are many millions of MacBooks Pro in circulation. Next. [0]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=house+fire&iar=news&df=d&ia=news https://duckduckgo.com/?q=house+fire&iar=news&df=d&ia=news
- chris_wot 7y ago
  Wait till it happens to you.
xxzAH 7y ago
Perhaps it is time to stop making everything thinner and produce a sturdy notebook with a decent keyboard again. It appears that it was possible with the T60 a decade ago.
- jbrooksuk 7y ago
  The 2015 is the last model with the decent keyboard, so that's not the problem here.
thegurus 7y ago
Keyboards, batteries... what is wrong with you, Apple?
- dmolony 7y ago
  Delaminating screens...
- marcinzm 7y ago
  Don't forget the screen cable breaking and requiring the screen to be replaced.
- deathhand 7y ago
  The convergence of aesthetics and capitalism. Ultimately their products are priced/made too cheaply for the reliability that is expected. Increasing cost wouldn't sit well with the stock market however so it's a bit of a catch 22.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
wimagguc 7y ago
(CNN, June 20) Apple recalls batteries in some older 15-inch MacBook Pros: https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/20/tech/apple-recall-macbook-pro-15-inch/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/20/tech/apple-recall-macbook-pro... For everyone who's involved, seems like it's not a one off.
PebblesHD 7y ago
While I do appreciate Apple’s particularly literal approach to ‘halt and catch fire’[0] this is a good reminder to have my battery replaced as soon as I’m near an Apple store. I wonder what the statistical probability of this actually happening to _my_ device is? [0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire
sureaboutthis 7y ago
References to posts on reddit should be banned everywhere else. 80% of all reddit is inhabited by 15-year old kids and internet crazies. Nothing should be re-posted here from there.
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  If the other 20% is useful content then that's still an awful lot of content.
  - sureaboutthis 7y ago
    Like dumpster diving you can find good content anywhere but are you sure you want to dive into dumpsters?
    - lolc 7y ago
      I do whenever I see cables sticking out.
chakintosh 7y ago
This made me wince. I haven't backed up my mac in 10 months now simply out of laziness, it contains some sensitive client work that NDA doesn't allow me to put in the cloud, it's millions of dollars worth of work and contracts, if I lose it, my company loses those clients as well. And my MBP gets really hot sometimes. Expect a TIFU from me at anytime.
- NikolaeVarius 7y ago
  I don't understand how this incident changes anything, a million things could happen to a computer that makes it unusable.
- iamnotacrook 7y ago
  The contracts exist elsewhere; both parties have signed them and your legal department will have a copy. You can back things up outside of the cloud. Ditto for your work, which will be in a version control system which is backed up. If you really run the risk of losing millions of dollars you need to maybe spend a little on getting 10 replacement laptops and cloning them and burying them in the garden or something. Also, it sounds like breaching the NDA is less bad than the result of losing the data.
- jasonjayr 7y ago
  An external hard drive is a $100 insurance policy. Here, I'll save you some trouble: just click buy now here: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBU6Y0040BBK-WESN/dp/B0713WPGLL https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBU...
- matwood 7y ago
  > laziness You mean professional negligence.
  - SomeOldThrow 7y ago
    There’s no need to personally attack people, they’re an adult with contracts to handle this.
asadkn 7y ago
I believe with the recent recall, Apple's doing the bare minimum in a PR damage control. A lot more batteries have to be affected than they're letting in. My MBP mid-2015 has swollen batteries twice in 3.5 years. Now I have to pay $500-750 (Authorized Service Providers quote), as Apple Care expired, for something that increasingly looks like Apple's fault.
- chris_wot 7y ago
  If you are Australian, then they must fix this, regardless of if you have Apple Care.
russtrotter 7y ago
I'm sitting here typing this response on a 2016 MBP (the first gen with the butterfly keyboard and touchbar). Due to some thermal issues, I unscrewed the cover to blow the dust out and discovered my batteries are all swelling. Yikes. I wonder if there's a follow-on recall in a year or so for this generation. I bought a battery replace kit from ifixit so I might kick the can down the road for a bit longer, time will tell. More broadly thinking though, Unix/BSD underpinnings OS, driver support, and hardware that sacrificed thin/light for components that were reliable and some DIY capability? I kid can dream
- jpalomaki 7y ago
  I think the swollen batteries are quite common in the MacBook Pros. Seems to be plenty of reports on the net. Typically people seem to notice this when the trackpad or keyboard starts acting funny. Not sure if Apple even considers that as a defect or if it is just the way some of the batteries are expected to behave when they get old.
  - asadkn 7y ago
    Which is really odd that I have never experienced or seen it in the older laptops. Perhaps it's a fairly new thing in the increasingly common thin form factor (Apple or otherwise but I haven't heard much of others).
    - jandrese 7y ago
      Older laptops left space for the batteries so they could swell slightly without damaging the laptop. Apple's design leaves no such space.
      - rightbyte 7y ago
        Are Apple using cylindrical cells or pouches? Cylindrical cells doesn't swell in the same way and have pressure cap before they crack the shell. Pouches probably has to swell abit before their cap pop.
  - 7y ago
dazhbog 7y ago
Typing this on a 2015 13 inch macbook pro with 4 out of 6 batteries swelled.. I'm pretty sure I could get Apple to service it but I will attempt to do locally here in Shenzhen. It is around 50USD to replace the batteries on the spot with a "new, original" pack.. The dilemma is, do I want an "original" pack back in?
s_dev 7y ago
Hmmm 2016 MacBook Pro here -- just brought it back to have the keyboard serviced. Checked the website and it says: >The serial number you entered is not eligible under this program because either: >It's not in the affected serial number range. >Our records show that your device has already been serviced as part of this Program. Opened up Cocunut Battery and have relized they replaced the battery without telling me. It's done very subtely on the service completion document -- "Replaced Top Case with Battery" -- are these parts not seperate?
- cloverich 7y ago
  They must not be -- when I took mine in to get the battery replaced (under the recall) they told me they'd be replacing the entire top case as well.
- kalleboo 7y ago
  > are these parts not seperate? No they are not. Anyone getting their keyboard replaced gets a new battery. Anyone getting their battery replaced gets a new keyboard/top case. This is one of the reasons that out-of-warranty repairs for the butterfly keyboards were $700 (before the repair program was launched).
- alistairSH 7y ago
  Yup, as you suspect, the battery and keyboard are all part of the top assembly. I guess it's thinner, but sure does seem an odd way to build a "Pro" spec laptop.
rapfaria 7y ago
So, turn off my seedbox when I leave home?
dbg31415 7y ago
"[Ineligible because our] records show that your device has already been serviced ..." Cool, thanks Apple. Glad I got to pay like $700 for this when my 2015 MBP was overheating so much last year that the battery swelled and broke the motherboard. I just did a quick live-chat with one of the tech support people... no chance for a refund on the work I had done 8 months ago to replace the battery and repair damage it caused. It really sucks that people who proactively dealt with this can't get compensated for what is now acknowledged as a manufacturing flaw.
SSchick 7y ago
I also had my battery swell recently to the point where the bulging was visible and noticeable as the mbp wouldn't lay flat on the table anymore. When I consulted the apple store (Berlin) about it they told it I need not to worry about it and I wouldn't be eligible for a battery swap as the mbp was performing 'nominally'. I was sceptical and let the battery drain over night, it ended up turning off at ~30% supposed capacity. I brought it to an 'unofficial' repair shop who instantly opened the mbp, the bottom lid was thrown off due to pressure after removing the last screws. The battery was swollen to the point where it looked like it was about to burst and the repairman was visible nervous. He ended up removing the battery on a outdoor table and replaced it. Something similar happened to one of my colleagues too, albeit after just 3 months of ownership.
- megous 7y ago
  > When I consulted the apple store (Berlin) about it they told it I need not to worry about it Those people are assholes. Literally. > Once you notice the battery is swollen or compromised in any way, you should immediately stop using the device. Turn the power off, and above all else, do not charge the device. Once the battery has reached such a point of failure that the battery is swollen, you must assume that all safety mechanisms in the battery are offline. Charging a swollen battery is literally asking for it to turn into an exploding ball of noxious flammable gas right in your living room. https://www.howtogeek.com/244846/what-to-do-when-your-phone-or-laptop-has-a-swollen-battery/ https://www.howtogeek.com/244846/what-to-do-when-your-phone-...
  - whymsicalburito 7y ago
    Literally?
    - bishala 7y ago
      https://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary_literally_now_also_means_figuratively_newscred/ https://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary...
- deleted 7y ago
ben7799 7y ago
This started to happen to mine at work too. Luckily I got it down to IT before it started on fire. They took the hard drive out. Opening the case released pressure on the swelling battery. As soon as it was open the battery started swelling faster. The case could never have been closed again. The whole enclosure bent like a soda can. I should have figured out earlier what was going on. The first sign was the computer started to seem wobbly if you stuck it on the desk and typed on the internal KB. I thought the little rubber feet on the bottom were worn, in actuality it was the case starting to deform. What finally figured it out for me was the swelling started to make the keyboard stop functioning properly. Some keys were stuck. It got stuffed in a bag and run over to the Apple store (which is only about 200 yards away). Never heard a word about it again, they threw my HDD in another MBP and I was off and running with almost no downtime. Of course that was like a 2013 MBP, that would not happen with the 2018 one I have right now since they can't be opened with a screwdriver and the internal SSD is soldered.
- el_cujo 7y ago
  >the 2018 one I have right now since they can't be opened with a screwdriver and the internal SSD is soldered. I'm going a little offtopic, but I cannot believe this. I haven't owned a Mac since having a 2010 MBP (which I loved dearly for 6 years), but I cannot imagine owning a laptop that doesn't allow me to switch the internal drive. It was annoying enough with all of the screws on the 2010 model. I'm sure there is some justification is for this beyond "we want you to buy a new one if something goes wrong", but I'm coming up blank.
  - WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
    Yes... soldered RAM, hard drive and everything into a pricy motherboard so if any of the cheaper components fail, you can pay for a whole new motherboard.
    - olivermarks 7y ago
      writing this on an ancient macbook air, on my 3rd self installed battery. I have a battery swelling damaged but still working trackpad. Can't bring myself to buy a new Macbook if it's not upgradeable...Apple you need to fix this with a user upgradeable model
dschuetz 7y ago
This is a new low for Apple. A lot of memes were dedicated to exploding Samsung Galaxy Note devices and that has been laughing stock for years now. Bursting batteries in a "Pro" line of Apple devices is unacceptable. If you don't want to set your pants on fire don't buy pro from Apple.
skizm 7y ago
Wonder if this is a similar situation to the exploding Samsung notes. Faulty battery manufacturing.
bsg75 7y ago
Isn't this always going to be a risk with high energy density batteries made from components that are volatile, especially in oxygen? I suspect that the quality of manufacture will be a significant factor in mitigation of that risk, but is there a currently available battery design that produces enough power for enough time without carrying some risk of ignition?
yumraj 7y ago
I have had several, note plural, swollen batteries from older MBPs when they were the external kind and not the internal as now.
- craftyguy 7y ago
  I've seen this on non-Apple laptops too. But, since this is 'hacker' 'news', anecdotes that do not work in Apple's favor get several front page postings here.
specialist 7y ago
Is there a way to make these batteries fail-safe? Could the device itself know when the battery is bulging, on fire, whatever? Could the power connectors themselves be designed to disconnect if the battery expands?
saganus 7y ago
Those fumes in the video can't be healthy, right? Why is this person standing there just inhaling that? I would be very concerned about breathing battery-fire fumes, no? Maybe they are not as toxic as I think? What should one do if this happens? Pouring water might make things worse, right?
- pp19dd 7y ago
  Hmm. "Although the emission of toxic gases can be a larger threat than the heat, the knowledge of such emissions is limited." from a study titled "Toxic fluoride gas emissions from lithium-ion battery fires" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5577247/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5577247/ CDC has some information about HF gas but they don't tend to link it to battery fires. Not sure about any of the amounts but it's just not something you want to burn in a firepit I suppose.
- cr0sh 7y ago
  I wouldn't breathe it. It probably won't kill you, but it won't be healthy, either. If anything, it would be like breathing the fumes from welding on galvanized steel. Now - maybe you haven't done this; I'd suspect many haven't. Galvanized steel has a coating of zinc, which boils at a much lower temperature than steel melts at. So when you're welding on such steel, the smoke and fumes given off (which even when welding normally should be avoided) are particularly nasty: https://www.bakersgas.com/weldmyworld/2011/12/03/side-effects-welding-galvanized-steel/ https://www.bakersgas.com/weldmyworld/2011/12/03/side-effect... A mild case of it basically feels like a very terrible cold/flu - but it can be deadly in great amounts. I'd suspect (but I'm not sure) that lithium fumes might cause similar symptoms. And just for sake of completeness, because a lot of people aren't aware of it - if you weld, never, ever weld on anything that has been soaked with brake cleaner that contains tetrachloroethylene. It will release phosgene gas, which is deadly in small amounts: https://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner--phosgene-gas.html https://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner-... That's from a guy who survived such an accidental exposure - but he's now messed up for life. You can still buy this kind of brake cleaner in some states, but it's not for sale in others (I believe its banned from sale in California). It's not so much that particular chemical, as it is the chlorine makeup of the chemical (the -chloro part); you could probably generate such gas by heating and vaporizing household bleach or pool chemicals that have chlorine in them, if you wanted to. But neither of those are likely to be used around steel and mechanical work like brake cleaner is.
IloveHN84 7y ago
I wish there was a better support for MacOS X on Virtual box, so you can virtualize it on a Linux/Windows laptop with latest hardware, in case you need it. Apple hardware is too pricey and sucks recently
ydnaclementine 7y ago
Will these be banned from planes? (similar to samsung note)
eden_hazard 7y ago
I have the 2015 15" MacBook pro too and it has a bunch of battery related issues. Last August, I used it until the battery died. The next day I turned it on and the computer was super slow and laggy. The CPU usage was maxed out and I couldn't figure out what was causing it. I rebooted the thing, reinstalled the OS, and tried all sorts of things to reset the battery but nothing worked. I didn't use it for two weeks and then the problem fixed itself. I haven't had the issue again and am too lazy too fix it. Since then, there's another issue that surfaced. The laptop turns off whenever it reaches 100% charge. Have to see if it's covered under this recall...but probably not knowing my luck.
brokenmachine 7y ago
It was only 3 days ago all the Apple fanboys were coming out in the comments saying it hurts the Apple brand when a third-party battery catches fire, so you can't allow people to repair their own phones. SMH. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20234022 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20234022

297 points by mrzool 7y ago

For those wondering - it is the 2015 MBP Retina 15" https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/bulbhv/my_macbook_pro_exploded_and_burst_into_flames/epe2rz1/ https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/bulbhv/my_macbook_pr...

ngngngng 7y ago
I would put money down that his serial number is not included in the recent recall. As usual, Apple seems to be in denial of the extent of the issues.
- 1123581321 7y ago
  Would you agree to bet a donation (the EFF or something else you like?) We can ask the reddit user to check their serial.

mekpro 7y ago

And Apple just announced the battery recall https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/20/apple-2015-macbook-pro-recall-program/ https://www.macrumors.com/2019/06/20/apple-2015-macbook-pro-...

jchw 7y ago
It’ll be interesting to compare the public reception of this incident versus the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 event, especially given Apple’s PR prowess. Seems like a similar sort of incident, though maybe even rarer to actually encounter given how old the laptops are now.
- vallsurf 7y ago
  The difference here is a single (known) instance of a 4 year old product vs widespread issues with a brand new one on release.
  - jchw 7y ago
    All we know is that there's one incident, and now there is a recall. If there was no endemic issue, there should not reasonably be a recall; there's been handfuls of stories about iPhones burning up that have not ended up resulting in recalls, presumably because they're isolated issues. I don't actually know how many Note 7's burnt up before they recalled, but I don't think it was ever very many. The main difference in this case is whatever issue exists, it was relatively benign for at least four years, which I agree hints that the issue is far less severe. But of course, no less dangerous.
  - bilbo0s 7y ago
    Well, I think it's more likely that the fact that it's a notebook will make this less of a PR issue. HN is kind of a unique place, but out in reality land the set of people who take their 15" notebook with them everywhere, including the airplane, is much smaller than the number of people who take their phones with them everywhere. So it's hard to capture the public imagination with a notebook. Apple releasing a new phone is an event not only for a lot of developers, but also for your average teeny bopper and housewife. Apple releasing a brand new laptop is just... not.
    - makomk 7y ago
      Also, most people aren't going to grab a camera and start filming when their laptop catches fire in their house so they can post it to the internet. That limits the number of videos like this you'd expect compared to a similar smartphone fault, which is more likely to happen in public with other people standing around idle that might film it. I'd venture a guess that this is very far from being the first such fault in four years, especially given how willing Apple was to announce a recall.
      - zaarn 7y ago
scotty79 7y ago
I just replaced battery myself last year because it swollen to really nasty size. It prevented touchpad from working. And the laptop didn't rest on its legs when it was on flat surface. Same model.
amarshall 7y ago
That recall is for a different model than OP’s.

mrzool 7y ago

Related to: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20235259 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20235259

grumdan 7y ago

I wonder if they have grounds to sue, over Apple producing an unsafe product.

dijit 7y ago
I find that to be very unlikely. Batteries are known to have failure modes that include explosion. It’s certainly not unique to this laptop, or even laptops alone. This is the only case I’ve heard about and it’s a 4year old laptop that had been repaired. As such I don’t think it’s a fault in the design, necessarily.

WalterBright 7y ago

My desktop caught fire once. I pulled the plug and the fire went out. Turns out the graphics card burst into flames. That had never happened to me before in 40 years of desktops. I had a fair amount of smoke damage that needed cleaning up. Now it sits on a piece of sheet steel instead of the wood floor. Edit: I usually assemble my desktop cases from mail order parts. This desktop happened to have a metal case rather than a plastic one - my future builds will all be metal cases.

llampx 7y ago
> I usually assemble my desktop cases from mail order parts. Doesn't everybody? I mean unless you are building a case from scratch. I also don't know of any plastic desktop cases, they're either steel or aluminum.
- WalterBright 7y ago
  > I also don't know of any plastic desktop cases I have many in the basement housing older desktops.
  - jessaustin 7y ago
    Yeah plastic seemed more common in the past. If I had to speculate, I would say that as all the guts got cheaper and cheaper, and at some point a fairly low-powered desktop was more than most people would need, manufacturers didn't want to drop the price of the system any lower. At the same time they had to keep margins reasonable in order to compete. So, they spent more on the case.
  - paranoidrobot 7y ago
    My first PC - an Acer 486 had a plastic case. It's also why I kinda screwed up the construction of my second PC - studied the construction of the acer one, saw it was screwed into the case. So I screwed the new motherboard into the new case... I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't power on. Took it to a friend's place, he just about fell over laughing when he realised I'd missed the copper risers.

busymom0 7y ago

Note that this is a 22 day old Reddit post (seems relevant as it’s few weeks before the battery replacement program announcement).

neogodless 7y ago
Yes - I'm finding it rather unfulfilling that there's no update as to what the resolution was! "If you don't talk about this incident any more on social media, here's a shiny new MacBook Pro. Otherwise, you get the ashes of your old laptop." OK just spitballing because we have no idea if they offered up a replacement or left him in the lurch.
- jmull 7y ago
  You write like it's a bad thing, but if this is resolved by Apple doing right by their customer, isn't that a good thing? Obviously, that is a rage post (understandably). OP seems to no longer be enraged... problem solved, right?
  - neogodless 7y ago
    My opinion is that it would be helpful to the public to know how Apple is handling the situation. Maybe they aren't obligated to inform us, and the individual is not obligated to keep us up to date either, but I would like to know how things turned out.

vishnugupta 7y ago

Seems like the person filing is inhaling a fair bit of smoke. Wonder how toxic that is.

origami777 7y ago
That was my first thought. I'd be out of there. Though you might want to ensure its not going to catch that floor on fire.

DigitalTerminal 7y ago

First a samsung phone and now this.

coldtea 7y ago

>I produce music for a living - FIVE days without my computer is unacceptable Then get two computers as a backup? While here it's Apple's issue, it could just as well be your fault that the laptop died (e.g. dropping it). Then you wouldn't have any laptop, but also no justification to demand an immediate replacement or deem not receiving one "unacceptable"...

agumonkey 7y ago
Yeah, professional mindset grants for backup plans. Unless you like walking on wires.
tpetry 7y ago
If a working MacBook would really be as strictly needed as he states it (earning his living with it). He could have simply bought a new one, not able to work for a week may be more financial damage. And Apple has a 14 day return policy, he is absolutely overstating the impact a missing macbook has for him!
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  "Just buy a new one" would be my personal approach too, but at least I have the humility to understand that not everyone is as fortunate as me.
tiew9Vii 7y ago
I’m guessing if it was their fault and they damaged the machine to an extent it wasn’t useable they’d go out and buy a replacement on the spot, spare computers take up space and money, especially if they are sat in a box for just in case which may never come vs walking in to a store and walking out with one there and then. It’s common to get given temporary mobile phones if in for manufacturers warranty repair so why not offer it for laptops?
- fpoling 7y ago
  Many people cannot imagine live without phones. Computers at home on the other hand are not perceived as a necessity. And at work typically there is a spare PC or some other way to survive while the computer is under repair.

jen729w 7y ago

Also in the news today, many houses caught fire due to electrical faults. [0] Things go wrong. The world isn’t perfect. There are many millions of MacBooks Pro in circulation. Next. [0]: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=house+fire&iar=news&df=d&ia=news https://duckduckgo.com/?q=house+fire&iar=news&df=d&ia=news

chris_wot 7y ago
Wait till it happens to you.

xxzAH 7y ago

Perhaps it is time to stop making everything thinner and produce a sturdy notebook with a decent keyboard again. It appears that it was possible with the T60 a decade ago.

jbrooksuk 7y ago
The 2015 is the last model with the decent keyboard, so that's not the problem here.

thegurus 7y ago

Keyboards, batteries... what is wrong with you, Apple?

dmolony 7y ago
Delaminating screens...
marcinzm 7y ago
Don't forget the screen cable breaking and requiring the screen to be replaced.
deathhand 7y ago
The convergence of aesthetics and capitalism. Ultimately their products are priced/made too cheaply for the reliability that is expected. Increasing cost wouldn't sit well with the stock market however so it's a bit of a catch 22.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

wimagguc 7y ago

(CNN, June 20) Apple recalls batteries in some older 15-inch MacBook Pros: https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/20/tech/apple-recall-macbook-pro-15-inch/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/20/tech/apple-recall-macbook-pro... For everyone who's involved, seems like it's not a one off.

PebblesHD 7y ago

While I do appreciate Apple’s particularly literal approach to ‘halt and catch fire’[0] this is a good reminder to have my battery replaced as soon as I’m near an Apple store. I wonder what the statistical probability of this actually happening to _my_ device is? [0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halt_and_Catch_Fire

sureaboutthis 7y ago

References to posts on reddit should be banned everywhere else. 80% of all reddit is inhabited by 15-year old kids and internet crazies. Nothing should be re-posted here from there.

SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
If the other 20% is useful content then that's still an awful lot of content.
- sureaboutthis 7y ago
  Like dumpster diving you can find good content anywhere but are you sure you want to dive into dumpsters?
  - lolc 7y ago
    I do whenever I see cables sticking out.

chakintosh 7y ago

This made me wince. I haven't backed up my mac in 10 months now simply out of laziness, it contains some sensitive client work that NDA doesn't allow me to put in the cloud, it's millions of dollars worth of work and contracts, if I lose it, my company loses those clients as well. And my MBP gets really hot sometimes. Expect a TIFU from me at anytime.

NikolaeVarius 7y ago
I don't understand how this incident changes anything, a million things could happen to a computer that makes it unusable.
iamnotacrook 7y ago
The contracts exist elsewhere; both parties have signed them and your legal department will have a copy. You can back things up outside of the cloud. Ditto for your work, which will be in a version control system which is backed up. If you really run the risk of losing millions of dollars you need to maybe spend a little on getting 10 replacement laptops and cloning them and burying them in the garden or something. Also, it sounds like breaching the NDA is less bad than the result of losing the data.
jasonjayr 7y ago
An external hard drive is a $100 insurance policy. Here, I'll save you some trouble: just click buy now here: https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBU6Y0040BBK-WESN/dp/B0713WPGLL https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Portable-External-Drive-WDBU...
matwood 7y ago
> laziness You mean professional negligence.
- SomeOldThrow 7y ago
  There’s no need to personally attack people, they’re an adult with contracts to handle this.

asadkn 7y ago

I believe with the recent recall, Apple's doing the bare minimum in a PR damage control. A lot more batteries have to be affected than they're letting in. My MBP mid-2015 has swollen batteries twice in 3.5 years. Now I have to pay $500-750 (Authorized Service Providers quote), as Apple Care expired, for something that increasingly looks like Apple's fault.

chris_wot 7y ago
If you are Australian, then they must fix this, regardless of if you have Apple Care.

russtrotter 7y ago

I'm sitting here typing this response on a 2016 MBP (the first gen with the butterfly keyboard and touchbar). Due to some thermal issues, I unscrewed the cover to blow the dust out and discovered my batteries are all swelling. Yikes. I wonder if there's a follow-on recall in a year or so for this generation. I bought a battery replace kit from ifixit so I might kick the can down the road for a bit longer, time will tell. More broadly thinking though, Unix/BSD underpinnings OS, driver support, and hardware that sacrificed thin/light for components that were reliable and some DIY capability? I kid can dream

jpalomaki 7y ago
I think the swollen batteries are quite common in the MacBook Pros. Seems to be plenty of reports on the net. Typically people seem to notice this when the trackpad or keyboard starts acting funny. Not sure if Apple even considers that as a defect or if it is just the way some of the batteries are expected to behave when they get old.
- asadkn 7y ago
  Which is really odd that I have never experienced or seen it in the older laptops. Perhaps it's a fairly new thing in the increasingly common thin form factor (Apple or otherwise but I haven't heard much of others).
  - jandrese 7y ago
    Older laptops left space for the batteries so they could swell slightly without damaging the laptop. Apple's design leaves no such space.
    - rightbyte 7y ago
      Are Apple using cylindrical cells or pouches? Cylindrical cells doesn't swell in the same way and have pressure cap before they crack the shell. Pouches probably has to swell abit before their cap pop.
- 7y ago

dazhbog 7y ago

Typing this on a 2015 13 inch macbook pro with 4 out of 6 batteries swelled.. I'm pretty sure I could get Apple to service it but I will attempt to do locally here in Shenzhen. It is around 50USD to replace the batteries on the spot with a "new, original" pack.. The dilemma is, do I want an "original" pack back in?

s_dev 7y ago

Hmmm 2016 MacBook Pro here -- just brought it back to have the keyboard serviced. Checked the website and it says: >The serial number you entered is not eligible under this program because either: >It's not in the affected serial number range. >Our records show that your device has already been serviced as part of this Program. Opened up Cocunut Battery and have relized they replaced the battery without telling me. It's done very subtely on the service completion document -- "Replaced Top Case with Battery" -- are these parts not seperate?

cloverich 7y ago
They must not be -- when I took mine in to get the battery replaced (under the recall) they told me they'd be replacing the entire top case as well.
kalleboo 7y ago
> are these parts not seperate? No they are not. Anyone getting their keyboard replaced gets a new battery. Anyone getting their battery replaced gets a new keyboard/top case. This is one of the reasons that out-of-warranty repairs for the butterfly keyboards were $700 (before the repair program was launched).
alistairSH 7y ago
Yup, as you suspect, the battery and keyboard are all part of the top assembly. I guess it's thinner, but sure does seem an odd way to build a "Pro" spec laptop.

rapfaria 7y ago

So, turn off my seedbox when I leave home?

dbg31415 7y ago

"[Ineligible because our] records show that your device has already been serviced ..." Cool, thanks Apple. Glad I got to pay like $700 for this when my 2015 MBP was overheating so much last year that the battery swelled and broke the motherboard. I just did a quick live-chat with one of the tech support people... no chance for a refund on the work I had done 8 months ago to replace the battery and repair damage it caused. It really sucks that people who proactively dealt with this can't get compensated for what is now acknowledged as a manufacturing flaw.

SSchick 7y ago

I also had my battery swell recently to the point where the bulging was visible and noticeable as the mbp wouldn't lay flat on the table anymore. When I consulted the apple store (Berlin) about it they told it I need not to worry about it and I wouldn't be eligible for a battery swap as the mbp was performing 'nominally'. I was sceptical and let the battery drain over night, it ended up turning off at ~30% supposed capacity. I brought it to an 'unofficial' repair shop who instantly opened the mbp, the bottom lid was thrown off due to pressure after removing the last screws. The battery was swollen to the point where it looked like it was about to burst and the repairman was visible nervous. He ended up removing the battery on a outdoor table and replaced it. Something similar happened to one of my colleagues too, albeit after just 3 months of ownership.

megous 7y ago
> When I consulted the apple store (Berlin) about it they told it I need not to worry about it Those people are assholes. Literally. > Once you notice the battery is swollen or compromised in any way, you should immediately stop using the device. Turn the power off, and above all else, do not charge the device. Once the battery has reached such a point of failure that the battery is swollen, you must assume that all safety mechanisms in the battery are offline. Charging a swollen battery is literally asking for it to turn into an exploding ball of noxious flammable gas right in your living room. https://www.howtogeek.com/244846/what-to-do-when-your-phone-or-laptop-has-a-swollen-battery/ https://www.howtogeek.com/244846/what-to-do-when-your-phone-...
- whymsicalburito 7y ago
  Literally?
  - bishala 7y ago
    https://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary_literally_now_also_means_figuratively_newscred/ https://www.salon.com/2013/08/22/according_to_the_dictionary...
deleted 7y ago

ben7799 7y ago

This started to happen to mine at work too. Luckily I got it down to IT before it started on fire. They took the hard drive out. Opening the case released pressure on the swelling battery. As soon as it was open the battery started swelling faster. The case could never have been closed again. The whole enclosure bent like a soda can. I should have figured out earlier what was going on. The first sign was the computer started to seem wobbly if you stuck it on the desk and typed on the internal KB. I thought the little rubber feet on the bottom were worn, in actuality it was the case starting to deform. What finally figured it out for me was the swelling started to make the keyboard stop functioning properly. Some keys were stuck. It got stuffed in a bag and run over to the Apple store (which is only about 200 yards away). Never heard a word about it again, they threw my HDD in another MBP and I was off and running with almost no downtime. Of course that was like a 2013 MBP, that would not happen with the 2018 one I have right now since they can't be opened with a screwdriver and the internal SSD is soldered.

el_cujo 7y ago
>the 2018 one I have right now since they can't be opened with a screwdriver and the internal SSD is soldered. I'm going a little offtopic, but I cannot believe this. I haven't owned a Mac since having a 2010 MBP (which I loved dearly for 6 years), but I cannot imagine owning a laptop that doesn't allow me to switch the internal drive. It was annoying enough with all of the screws on the 2010 model. I'm sure there is some justification is for this beyond "we want you to buy a new one if something goes wrong", but I'm coming up blank.
- WrtCdEvrydy 7y ago
  Yes... soldered RAM, hard drive and everything into a pricy motherboard so if any of the cheaper components fail, you can pay for a whole new motherboard.
  - olivermarks 7y ago
    writing this on an ancient macbook air, on my 3rd self installed battery. I have a battery swelling damaged but still working trackpad. Can't bring myself to buy a new Macbook if it's not upgradeable...Apple you need to fix this with a user upgradeable model

dschuetz 7y ago

This is a new low for Apple. A lot of memes were dedicated to exploding Samsung Galaxy Note devices and that has been laughing stock for years now. Bursting batteries in a "Pro" line of Apple devices is unacceptable. If you don't want to set your pants on fire don't buy pro from Apple.

skizm 7y ago

Wonder if this is a similar situation to the exploding Samsung notes. Faulty battery manufacturing.

bsg75 7y ago

Isn't this always going to be a risk with high energy density batteries made from components that are volatile, especially in oxygen? I suspect that the quality of manufacture will be a significant factor in mitigation of that risk, but is there a currently available battery design that produces enough power for enough time without carrying some risk of ignition?

yumraj 7y ago

I have had several, note plural, swollen batteries from older MBPs when they were the external kind and not the internal as now.

craftyguy 7y ago
I've seen this on non-Apple laptops too. But, since this is 'hacker' 'news', anecdotes that do not work in Apple's favor get several front page postings here.

specialist 7y ago

Is there a way to make these batteries fail-safe? Could the device itself know when the battery is bulging, on fire, whatever? Could the power connectors themselves be designed to disconnect if the battery expands?

saganus 7y ago

Those fumes in the video can't be healthy, right? Why is this person standing there just inhaling that? I would be very concerned about breathing battery-fire fumes, no? Maybe they are not as toxic as I think? What should one do if this happens? Pouring water might make things worse, right?

pp19dd 7y ago
Hmm. "Although the emission of toxic gases can be a larger threat than the heat, the knowledge of such emissions is limited." from a study titled "Toxic fluoride gas emissions from lithium-ion battery fires" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5577247/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5577247/ CDC has some information about HF gas but they don't tend to link it to battery fires. Not sure about any of the amounts but it's just not something you want to burn in a firepit I suppose.
cr0sh 7y ago
I wouldn't breathe it. It probably won't kill you, but it won't be healthy, either. If anything, it would be like breathing the fumes from welding on galvanized steel. Now - maybe you haven't done this; I'd suspect many haven't. Galvanized steel has a coating of zinc, which boils at a much lower temperature than steel melts at. So when you're welding on such steel, the smoke and fumes given off (which even when welding normally should be avoided) are particularly nasty: https://www.bakersgas.com/weldmyworld/2011/12/03/side-effects-welding-galvanized-steel/ https://www.bakersgas.com/weldmyworld/2011/12/03/side-effect... A mild case of it basically feels like a very terrible cold/flu - but it can be deadly in great amounts. I'd suspect (but I'm not sure) that lithium fumes might cause similar symptoms. And just for sake of completeness, because a lot of people aren't aware of it - if you weld, never, ever weld on anything that has been soaked with brake cleaner that contains tetrachloroethylene. It will release phosgene gas, which is deadly in small amounts: https://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner--phosgene-gas.html https://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner-... That's from a guy who survived such an accidental exposure - but he's now messed up for life. You can still buy this kind of brake cleaner in some states, but it's not for sale in others (I believe its banned from sale in California). It's not so much that particular chemical, as it is the chlorine makeup of the chemical (the -chloro part); you could probably generate such gas by heating and vaporizing household bleach or pool chemicals that have chlorine in them, if you wanted to. But neither of those are likely to be used around steel and mechanical work like brake cleaner is.

IloveHN84 7y ago

I wish there was a better support for MacOS X on Virtual box, so you can virtualize it on a Linux/Windows laptop with latest hardware, in case you need it. Apple hardware is too pricey and sucks recently

ydnaclementine 7y ago

Will these be banned from planes? (similar to samsung note)

eden_hazard 7y ago

I have the 2015 15" MacBook pro too and it has a bunch of battery related issues. Last August, I used it until the battery died. The next day I turned it on and the computer was super slow and laggy. The CPU usage was maxed out and I couldn't figure out what was causing it. I rebooted the thing, reinstalled the OS, and tried all sorts of things to reset the battery but nothing worked. I didn't use it for two weeks and then the problem fixed itself. I haven't had the issue again and am too lazy too fix it. Since then, there's another issue that surfaced. The laptop turns off whenever it reaches 100% charge. Have to see if it's covered under this recall...but probably not knowing my luck.

brokenmachine 7y ago

It was only 3 days ago all the Apple fanboys were coming out in the comments saying it hurts the Apple brand when a third-party battery catches fire, so you can't allow people to repair their own phones. SMH. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20234022 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20234022