MacBook Butterfly keyboard lawsuit granted class-action status
Apple will have to face a class-action lawsuit over allegations it knew about flaws in the MacBook Pro butterfly keyboard design and didn't do enough to combat issues or lost value for owners.
The lawsuit, which complains of issues with the butterfly keyboard, was officially certified as a class-action suit by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. The certification took place on March 8, but was kept under seal until March 19 so that a redacted version of the court order could be created.
A total of seven subclasses were determined by District Judge Edward J. Davila, with each covering users in a different state. The states it applies to are California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington, reports The Verge.
The suit also applies to people within those states who bought a Macbook between 2015 and 2017, a MacBook Pro between 2016 and 2019, or a MacBook Air between 2018 and 2019 that used the butterfly keyboard.
Originally filed in 2018, the lawsuit alleges the keyboard failed during regular use, such as dust or debris ingress causing keys to not fully respond. In some instances, the behavior manifested as "sticky" keys or overly repeating characters, as well as a lack of response.
It is claimed Apple was aware of the issue, but kept selling models using the keyboard despite knowing this. One Apple executive is quoted in writing "no matter how much lipstick you try to put on this pig (the butterfly keyboard)... it's still ugly."
The complaints were so much of an issue that Apple updated the keyboard to include a thin silicone membrane, seemingly to reduce noise and cut down on debris.
While most public complaints were anecdotal, research by AppleInsider in 2018 collecting data on first-year hardware failures for the MacBook Pro found the butterfly keyboard failed twice as often as previous models.
By late 2019, Apple seemingly gave up on the butterfly keyboard altogether, and started to migrate its new MacBook products over to the Magic Keyboard instead.
Apple previously attempted to dismiss the lawsuit in 2019, citing its implementation of troubleshooting methods and a repair program. The plaintiffs successfully argued that the voluntary program was ineffective as it failed to address the core problems with the keyboard.
Replacing the faulty keyboards with another using the same design was also considered by the plaintiffs to be a bad idea, as it had the potential for the same issues to resurface at a later time.
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The lawsuit, which complains of issues with the butterfly keyboard, was officially certified as a class-action suit by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose Division. The certification took place on March 8, but was kept under seal until March 19 so that a redacted version of the court order could be created.
A total of seven subclasses were determined by District Judge Edward J. Davila, with each covering users in a different state. The states it applies to are California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Washington, reports The Verge.
The suit also applies to people within those states who bought a Macbook between 2015 and 2017, a MacBook Pro between 2016 and 2019, or a MacBook Air between 2018 and 2019 that used the butterfly keyboard.
Originally filed in 2018, the lawsuit alleges the keyboard failed during regular use, such as dust or debris ingress causing keys to not fully respond. In some instances, the behavior manifested as "sticky" keys or overly repeating characters, as well as a lack of response.
It is claimed Apple was aware of the issue, but kept selling models using the keyboard despite knowing this. One Apple executive is quoted in writing "no matter how much lipstick you try to put on this pig (the butterfly keyboard)... it's still ugly."
The complaints were so much of an issue that Apple updated the keyboard to include a thin silicone membrane, seemingly to reduce noise and cut down on debris.
While most public complaints were anecdotal, research by AppleInsider in 2018 collecting data on first-year hardware failures for the MacBook Pro found the butterfly keyboard failed twice as often as previous models.
By late 2019, Apple seemingly gave up on the butterfly keyboard altogether, and started to migrate its new MacBook products over to the Magic Keyboard instead.
Apple previously attempted to dismiss the lawsuit in 2019, citing its implementation of troubleshooting methods and a repair program. The plaintiffs successfully argued that the voluntary program was ineffective as it failed to address the core problems with the keyboard.
Replacing the faulty keyboards with another using the same design was also considered by the plaintiffs to be a bad idea, as it had the potential for the same issues to resurface at a later time.
Class Action Suit Regarding Apple's Butterfly Keyboard by Mike Wuerthele on Scribd
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Comments
Bottom line: when Apple does discover an issue once a product is out to consumers, they've always done right by me in terms of fixing it at no cost.
when that happened, I recreated the issues on 4/5 other MacBook pros. Only 1 with a Samsung screen (the working one). To be fair, they were display units but you never see that issue on iPhones.
That, coupled with the POS keyboard on the 2016s, I bought a PC desktop to replace the MacBook as my main driver and not sure I’ll be going back to mac anytime soon. To be fair, the 2012 still works well now when on the go for light work.
So... in my experience I'd say it was a coin toss in terms of your luck, but who knows what the real numbers were. (Maybe we'll find out with this lawsuit.)
Now Apple releases products with known problems and ignores it's customers. It denies denies denies until a class action is filed - and then it rolls out some BS program as a PR move and judgement appeasement.
1 hour out of AppleCare and you are SOL.
Yeah, sorry, but that research is faulty. Maybe a lot of people hadn't brought them in for repair at that point.
When about EVERYONE we know that owns one of these has problems, it's probably just a tad bit more than 2x the previous design (where I'm sure they failed, but I never ran into one or knew anyone). Including our own, people I know, and podcasts I listen to, that's like 20+ bad ones, some replaced more than once. Yes, anecdotal, but the problems aren't THAT clustered. And about everyone I've ever talked to about it says nearly the same thing about their circle of connections.
I think it would be more accurate to say... some small percentage haven't failed, yet.
Yes, because it is just a matter of time until it fails AGAIN. Maybe that can buy enough time to last the useful timeframe of the product if one is careful, but I don't think that is reasonable. IMO, either a solid class-action, or Apple could just extend the 4-years to lifetime.
Problem is the grass isn't greener...
Yes, and you probably should be quiet and not jinx yourself... the last person I heard say this, a couple weeks later...
In the past anyway, that has been my experience as well. I'm not so sure about now, though. Unfortunately, we get to find out with my son's MBP.
Yeah, that seemed a bit odd to me too. I know usually each country has to set something up (like with the VW diesel thing), but it seems odd only a few states.
Also, unfortunately, I've yet to see a class-action where the end-users got a fair amount. We'll probably have to fill out a bunch of paperwork to get your $20, or something like that (while the lawyer buys a few more beach-houses).
Similar here, my son's MBP has a few keys now not triggering most of the time, or repeating, etc. He's reluctant to give it up (to send in) so I'm trying to get that going. We've got him a monitor and external keyboard now (he likes to game) which will help prolong it once repaired (hopefully). He'll still use it some on that keyboard, but it will probably take like 75% of the use off of it.
my beats stopped turning on and I called apple care, I was just out of warranty but they took them in for repair anyways. I received a note saying they could not repair it and sent two out to me. I sold both and upgraded.
I have rarely been hit with a bill from apple, it is a shame that there are such opposite experiences.
I am not saying that it isn't a problem for others. I am just saying that it isn't a problem for everyone.