Best Buy recalls 5,100 third-party MacBook batteries for fire risk
Best Buy announced on Wednesday that it is recalling 5,100 MacBook Pro batteries built by third-party manufacturer ATG after a number of users reported their units caught fire.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there have been 13 reports of the battery model catching fire, with one user suffering serious burns to their leg, the Associated Press reports.
Best Buy is recalling both the black and white versions of a $50 replacement battery sold by its Geek Squad repair department through its stores or online from September 2008 to June 2012. The lithium-ion batteries, carrying model numbers "MC-MBOOK13B" and "MC-BOOK13W," were made by ATG, and did not come from Apple.
It should be noted that the original report incorrectly stated the batteries were a replacement unit for the MacBook Pro. Instead, the two particular models were built for Apple's polycarbonate MacBooks, which are no longer sold by the company.
Best Buy reached out to Gizmodo with the following statement:
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, there have been 13 reports of the battery model catching fire, with one user suffering serious burns to their leg, the Associated Press reports.
Best Buy is recalling both the black and white versions of a $50 replacement battery sold by its Geek Squad repair department through its stores or online from September 2008 to June 2012. The lithium-ion batteries, carrying model numbers "MC-MBOOK13B" and "MC-BOOK13W," were made by ATG, and did not come from Apple.
It should be noted that the original report incorrectly stated the batteries were a replacement unit for the MacBook Pro. Instead, the two particular models were built for Apple's polycarbonate MacBooks, which are no longer sold by the company.
Best Buy reached out to Gizmodo with the following statement:
Best Buy will be contacting customers affected by the recall directly.After receiving reports from customers of these lithium ion batteries overheating when charging, we believe the right thing to do is to contact our customers and ask them to return the product for replacement or for a Best Buy gift card. While we are only one of many companies that may have sold these batteries, we feel they are a potential fire and burn hazard and want to keep our customers safe.
Comments
Go to Best Buy and suffer the consequences. Would you like an extended warranty for that fire bomb?
It will be in every newspaper as "Apple batteries faulty", not even any mention that they're third party, and only one reference to Best Buy. You watch.
And people wonder why Apple stopped selling systems with easily replaceable batteries.
Agreed, the heading should be "Best Buy sell crap to unsuspecting Mac users."
Nice to see you back BTW.
Quote:
Originally Posted by macxpress
This is why you don't buy a 3rd party battery. Spend the extra $10 and get a genuine Apple battery.
This.
Their Dynex branded stuff is always suspect, in my mind.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
You bought a third-party battery. What did you expect?
It will be in every newspaper as "Apple batteries faulty", not even any mention that they're third party, and only one reference to Best Buy. You watch.
Welcome back TS
Thanks, and look: I was right. But what do you expect from these clowns...
NO explicit mention whatsoever of these being third-party and not factory-shipping batteries. Here's what they say:
And this means absolutely nothing to a consumer. A consumer MIGHT know that Sony or Samsung made the battery inside their Mac, which means they could think "ATG" is just one of those companies. Apple will be inundated with people worried about their battery when they've never had anything but from-Apple batteries.
Thankfully the instances of this will be ever fewer as time goes on. With Apple disallowing easy third-party access, those who do buy aftermarket parts will be smart enough to know that they are, if not what they are.
Cool! TS is back. Now what's up with SolipsismX? He's been pretty quiet through the past few days, even though there were so many interesting announcements at WWDC.
This is why the MFI program exists.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
And people wonder why Apple stopped selling systems with easily replaceable batteries.
That's absurd, IMO. By that logic, no part of any Apple device should be user replaceable and no third party device should ever be connectable to an Apple machine. I think Apple has made a huge mistake by making batteries, memory and drives not user replaceable in their newer machines. You can't tell me that with Apple's design and engineering genius, they couldn't have found a way to make this still possible. IMO, this wasn't about the only solution to providing a larger battery or enabling a thinner machine. It's a cynical approach to forcing users to buy replacement machines in a faster cycle.
In my 2008 MacBook Pro, I've easily switched out the hard drive for a larger model, increased the memory and replaced the battery in a matter of seconds. One of the things that really impressed me about the machine's design is how the hard drive sits on shock absorbers and how easily it was to remove and replace it. I think the machine originally came with something like 250GB, I replaced it with 768GB and now I think I'm going to replace it again with a 2 to 3TB drive. (I've been shooting much video lately that takes up gobs of space.)
If I needed a new battery for a newer MacBook Pro, I've got to leave the machine at Apple for several days and pay not only for the overpriced battery, but labor charges for the install. In a newer machine, if one runs out of storage space, unless you want to use external storage, the machine is now obsolete. And if you didn't buy the machine with maximum memory up front, you're SOL. I find this unacceptable, especially in a device marketed as a "Pro" machine for top dollar.
Besides, it's not like Apple-branded batteries don't have problems. My original MBP Apple battery swelled up, causing the track pad not to work. And an Apple-branded replacement never had the life it was supposed to have.
Wonder what BB or ATG is going to do about the damaged machines. I know I'd be enraged if a battery defect killed my machine and the manufacturer refused to do something about it, regardless of how the warranty reads. And if it were a "house brand", I'd blame the retailer as well.
The vast majority of Mac/PC buyers do not upgrade the hard drive or memory or battery.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
You bought a third-party battery. What did you expect?
You guys amuse me. My third party MacBook Pro battery saved my ass (and is still going strong) when my Apple replacement (of the 2008 DOA stock battery) did this:
Fellas, you talk as if Apple has never had any battery issues. Short memories.
One exception doesn't prove a rule. Yes and I know a motor cyclist that came off his bike at 100 m.p.h. and was saved because he wasn't wearing a crash helmet ... /s :no:
As always Trollest Shill blaming everyone except Apple. Doesn't Apple have to approve 3rd party batteries?
Quote:
Originally Posted by digitalclips
One exception doesn't prove a rule. Yes and I know a motor cyclist that came off his bike at 100 m.p.h. and was saved because he wasn't wearing a crash helmet ... /s
Wasn't using my experience as a singular exception. You either blocked out or came along after the Apple MBP battery recalls of the mid-2000's.
If one doesn't rewrite history you can see that Apple's record for batteries is not the stellar one implied in this thread.
Nope. As far as I know, there isn't a proprietary battery connection.
dasanman69
Tallest Skil
You bought a third-party battery. What did you expect?
It will be in every newspaper as "Apple batteries faulty", not even any mention that they're third party, and only one reference to Best Buy. You watch.
As always Trollest Shill blaming everyone except Apple. Doesn't Apple have to approve 3rd party batteries?
Calm down, slick. First of all, unlicensed accessories have always existed. Second, Apple taking the blame for unlicensed accessories is why they created the MFI program. Third, save your troll spotlight for when Skil is actually doing said thing; it's common, but this isn't it. I actually agree with his take on this, except for the newspaper part; the dead tree press is usually oblivious to anything tech-centric.