2015 MacBook Pro recall: batteries overheating | Hacker News Reader

2015 MacBook Pro recall: batteries overheating

techcrunch.com

115 pointscodesuki52 comments

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

"Customer safety is always Apple's top priority, and we have voluntarily decided to replace affected batteries, free of charge."

I know its just a marketing blurb by Apple, but if safety is actually their top priority, they should be contacting all customers directly. How is the end user supposed to even know that their laptop could catch fire?

I would have expected an e-mail or call from our educational rep, but it’s silence. They know exactly what we bought, so I’m a bit confused about their top priority.

Profit.

Seriously. It boggles my mind why this is still a question. We don’t even have to get into the morality of it, but it’s simply not profitable to care this much, so why would Apple?

If you have premium brand and do not provide proper customer service, then people will start buying from others. Might not be immediate, but nothing rides on good feelings forever.

My business rep seems to be on some kind of delay; they always contact me exactly two weeks after every announcement.

Yeah.. I mean Subaru found a way to email me about scheduling an appointment for the airbag recall. (Yes, I know its probably because of regulations)

That's a good point. Apple knows every piece of hardware I've purchased from them simply because I've bought into their ecosystem (iCloud, iTunes, etc.) It seems like they should be able to leverage this information to reach out to customers (or even previous) to give them a heads up.

For whatever it's worth, it looks like not all "MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)" MacBooks are affected by this. I have one, entered my serial number, and it said that mine was not in the affected range of serial numbers.

Don't be so sure, they pulled the same stunt on 2009 models using very specific battery batch numbers, but my battery still swelled and overheated, I was not alone.

It didn't burst into flames, but become too dangerous to use (this was in the days where they were still removable)... perhaps that doesn't cut their criteria for recalls.

Says that for mine too... while it's sitting here rocking around on my desk because it's spherical due to an inflated battery.

I would just show up at Apple with it. I had gotten a product from them completely replaced long after the 1 year warranty was due lol

I have two that are that time frame, one with a swollen battery as well, neither apply.

Mine was like that. So badly swollen the touchpad was almost impossible to press. I replaced the battery myself and it really wasn't bad at all. Less than an hour roundtrip using the "string method" (I saw it on a YouTube video) to slice through the tape they use to glue the battery down. The worst part was trying to clean off the old adhesive before putting in the new battery. This method is really non-invasive because you don't have to pull off a bunch of other parts.

Mine says that as well, but I've noticed my battery getting really hot for no reason sometimes. I'm currently out of the States, but I think I'm going to take it by an Apple Store as soon as I get back.

1 to 2 weeks turn around? Incredibly ridiculous as many rely on this as theit primary dev machine and Apple is telling people to stop using it...

Indeed. I don't understand why they think that's a good idea. Just replace the parts in store.

It's because the glued the damn batteries to the top case, which is also the part which everything else is screwed onto. So replacing the battery either requires replacing the whole top case (A LOT of manual work, and more costly in parts), or engaging in the potential fire hazard of removing the glued battery.

Yes, it’s simply outrageous. Apple is getting worse by the day.

You have to realize there are people that sit down and calculate the discount against the real warranty replacement cost because of the relative friction to getting this fixed. This is at face value damn near criminal and it should be made criminal. It's behavior that's simply anti-consumer, pro-monopoly. To be fair, my favorite culprit of this kind of bogus warranty RMA process is Google. Try getting a warranty-repair for a manufacturing defect (wholly Google's fault) in a Pixel and you'll be out of a phone for weeks -- pretty unreasonable if you're one of the normal people that doesn't keep an extra cell phone around. If the new capitalism is giant technology monopolies, consumer protections specifically targeting this sort of well-designed, seemingly clever anti-consumer action are required and required now. And seriously the solution is simple: pay for a replacement that is delivered to you immediately and have that replacement cost returned when your defective laptop is received.

The "overheating issue" is putting it mildly, if related to this https://twitter.com/whitepanda/status/1133847982317723648

I have a refurbished "Mid 2015" MBP that I purchased in late 2017. I entered the serial number and was shown that I'm not eligible because both:

-It's not in the affected serial number range.

-Our records show that your device has already been serviced as part of this Program.

Was my serial number originally part of the recall, and they already knew about the issue and fixed it for refurbs going out? Is it incorrectly stating that my device is unaffected? Am I truly in the clear with this serial?

To be clear, I have never taken this MBP in for service since purchase -- and it was purchased as a refurb directly from Apple.

I have a mid 2015 MBP... still will take an exploding battery over the new keyboard and stupid touchpad.

I can understand the keyboard (although I've got a late 2018 MB Air and I love the keyboard fingers crossed), but I've always considered Mac touchpad to be an order of magnitude better than anything else out there. What don't you like about the new touchpad?

I imagine they may be talking about the touchbar, the touchpad has never really changed in design apart from being larger.

I could understand a ThinkPad user griping about the new silly flappy trackpads they have, but not a Macbook user.

sorry typo, i meant the touchbar

Edit: Never mind, I misread the article. This recall is for some 2015-model MBPs that were sold in 2017, not the 2017 model. I guess I still don't know which recall my battery was part of.

Edit 2: It's probably this recall from 1 year ago: https://www.apple.com/support/13inch-macbookpro-battery-repl...

Wow, I think I may have had my battery replaced under this recall 2 weeks ago (i.e. a 2 weeks before this announcement). Last year, I had the "service battery" warning, and took my 2017 MBP in to have them look at it, and they confirmed my battery needed replacing (and were going to charge me for it). The battery life was still more or less adequate at the time, and at the time I couldn't afford to part with it for a week, so I said I'd bring it back some other time once it got really bad. That some other time was 2 weeks ago, and this time they confirmed the battery needed replacing, and as I was getting my credit card out to pay for it, they informed me that it was covered under some recall. The store representative didn't have any further details, just "apparently it's covered". I assumed it was some previously-announced recall that I just hadn't heard about, but apparently it was this recall, which they only announced today, a week after I got my MBP back with a new free battery.

FWIW, my turnaround time was 6 days, IIRC. Friday of one week to Thursday of the next. On the other hand, I presumably got in before the rush that will follow this announcement.

This is for 2015 MBPs only, so no. Apple does replace some batteries if they are well-documented to have failed because of manufacturer issues though. Also for swelling.

Oh, I misread the article. It says "sold between September 2015 and February 2017", but it's only talking about 2015 models.

Maybe they should add the 2015 MBP 13"ers too as mine battery is bulging.

I wish they do this

I had the same issue and Apple fix it for free about 1 year ago.

Dammit! I had a 2015 15" Macbook from work that I upgraded from 2 months ago because the battery life sucked (less than 1 hour). I had to upgrade to this terrible 2018 Macbook Pro with the absolutely disastrous Touchbar which I hate. The only reason why I upgraded was because of the battery life. I could have gotten a new one for with this recall, dammit!

Isn't a battery replacement just $199, anyway? Might have been the cheaper alternative even without the recall.

I had a similar decision a few weeks ago (contemplating whether to go from a 2014 15" MacBook to a 2019 model because of a faulty battery and touchpad.)

I went to the Genius Bar, they replaced the top-case including the battery, a new keyboard, and a new touchpad, for $199. They also replaced the display for free while they were at it (relating to coating issues,) so I virtually got a new MacBook (from the outside) for $199.

Just had my entire battery, keyboard, and trackpad replaced because of this but my serial isn't in the batch :/

I had an mid-2015 which battery did swollen after 8 months of usage. It bulged the trackpad towards the screen and making a dent. Apple does count that as part of in-warranty repair though.

A very expansive battery repair for Apple.

By the way, their repair would take longer than an entire week, which is worse than most laptops vendors.

Written by Brian Heater haha

My Mac's battery actually exploded (more of a <<<pop!>>> than me running away and diving to the floor with a huge fireball in the background) but it did take out my laptop with the skill of a high level assassin. Apple repaired it all free of charge but it was still very inconvenient.

If your serial number is on the list, I'd say get it done asap.

Every single Macbook I've ever owned (five to date) has had a defective battery. My 2015 13" MBP had a swollen battery, but no recall for that apparently.

I wonder if they're only offering a 90-day warranty on the replacement. In 2006 I had an MBP with two battery recalls. The third one only had a 90 day warranty (it failed, too, at the four month mark).

Every single device I've ever owned has had a defective battery eventually.

It Is the Nature of Things

Sure, but I don't think lithium batteries are normally supposed to have a failure mode where they swell. All my Macbooks, save my precious 2008 (imho when Macbook design just about peaked) swelled.

Really? I have so many lithium batteries that are swollen, for so many products.

It's pretty normal for Lithium Ion batteries to swell. You see it constantly with smartphones especially, where it's very obvious given the tight tolerances in modern devices. I say this as someone who's worked with racks and racks of smartphones used for testing. Eventually they pretty much all swell.

Mmm...my iphone 4 didn’t swell after it was used for 7 years.

I will take your one phone as disproving all of my experience. Thanks!

In all seriousness, I have an iPhone 4S whose battery is in tatters but also hasn’t swollen (that I can tell, anyway). It doesn’t happen to every single battery. It does happen to a significant portion of them over time.

I typed my serial number in and got

> The serial number you entered may be eligible for this program. Please choose one of the service options below.

What does "may be" mean? Servicing my laptop requires me traveling to Singapore, so I kind of need to know if I am eligible or not.

And to think the Mid 2015 MBP was perfect. Was still using the same work machine from 2015 because I liked the older keyboard.

Maybe it's Thinkpad Time...

I have a permanent yellow band on the bottom of my 2016 MBP from the battery's heat warping the screen.

Using it right now to type this message.

I should consider upgrading.

Thank God, mine is mid 2014

That means that your may overheat but won't be covered.

Yes, that is exactly my experience from older models previous recalls.

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