Same Here. I have been using this adapter since the first laptop it came on. I have 3 now and none of them have given me any trouble over the 2 plus years I have used them. I travel extensively and have never had a problem. I find that simply being careful has kept them in like new condition.
While I'm sure that a small percentage of them may be faulty I doubt it is anywhere near the figures they are claiming. Hell I still have two of the old style laptop adaptors that Apple used and they are fine too.
my iphone plug does that also...i tried covering it with tape but its still not great
Work in IT. We have many users that have no issue with this at all, & a few who have major issues. So what's the difference? The users who have the issue %100 of the time also are users who don't take good care of their computers.
I'm not talking about minor bumps mind you, I'm talking people who had a Dell before & completely destroyed it so often we tried getting them a Panasonic ToughBook (which never worked right).
Apple has recommendations on how to wrap their cords. We constantly remind our users of this but they still ignore us & tear the cords up. Our Dell power cords suffer no less, many of them are worse than the Macs.
reminds me of that old man who wanted to sue nintendo because he broke his back playing Wii,hmm. My magsafe has been fine since '06,even with little kids and dogs running around and tripping it once in awhile.
that cord in the pic they used looks so haggard! i had a cord burn up on me and it had a brownish tint to it around the burn hole. the cord in the pic looks like it has been banged up and pinched in something not a burn. these people are pathetic. i know a lot of people that are on hard times but nobody that would sue a company over a BS claim.
The "magsafe" is not the issue (idiot)... it's that the cable frays... which imho, is something all cables do, especially the used and abused ones.
Don't do personal attacks on other members here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by speed_the_collapse
This happened to me! I've had one MagSafe connector melt while on vacation. Once I got back home, the Apple Store guy would not replace my power supply, telling me it wasn't part of the MacBook's warranty.
Was the guy giving me bull? If not for the AppleCare, what reason would we be allowed to get our power supplies replaced?
More recently, I've had another one crack, but not melt, and it still works. It's now on light-duty and I don't carry it around with me.
That sounds dubious. I would try again. But replace those things at any rate.
I had a power supply replaced under warranty, but it was a different problem, the pins wouldn't push out anymore, I think the springs inside just got brittle and broke.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
Legally notarized pics or it didn't happen.
Legally notarized? Just a photo should be fine. Anything higher is way too high of a standard to demand here, this isn't a court or even Night Court. If you don't want the same applied to you when you make claims, you should avoid spouting that at others.
As other's have said, I'm betting the problem is that people are unplugging the connector by pulling on the cord. Especially if you try to pull the MagSafe connector straight out. It's a pretty tough magnet. You are sure to pull the wires out of the connector if you do that enough times. The connector disengages more easily of you tilt it, but again, if you do that by pulling on the wire you are stressing the connection between the wire and the connector.
However, there is a design issue in that Apple made the connector too small, making it difficult to remove the connector without stressing the wires. Previous connectors were large enough that you could grasp the connector and pull it out.
I'd also point out that the MagSafe connector shown in the photo in the article appears to have seen some abuse. Look at the connector itself, how chipped up it looks. It looks as if either a cat had been chewing on it or it got sucked into a vacuum a few times.
I call BS on the lawsuit. I have two Mag-safe adapters. One is 2yrs old, the other is 1yr old. Zero problems. I also have a 'yo-yo' adapter on a (still working!) Powerbook G3 - we're talking ~7yrs, and no problems. I treat cables with care.
The problems are from bone-head users. You can't treat power cables (or any cable) like crap and expect it to last. I see this all the time, and not just with computers. Have you looked at some people's vacuum cleaners?
For any cable to last and not fray/break/short/etc. you cannot: 1. Wind too tightly. 2. Tie in knots. 3. Bend the connector at sharp right angles (or worse) to 'tuck' it in. 4. Repeatedly bend and/or twist. 5. Yank out the plug or connector by pulling on the cable. 6. Other cable abuses like pets chewing on them. 7. Take environuts too seriously and use materials in cables that are weak. People need to clue in, and think.
Apple could mitigate their exposure to this problem by using a better strain relief on the cable. That little cheap piece of plastic wrapped around the cord at the connector end is mostly useless. They went to this cheaper design on all their cables, presumably to save .05 pennies per cable. Not a good choice if you think about it. A good example is the iPod cables - which used to have a molded, longer, more supportive, and more flexible strain relief, but now they all have the cheap short stubby plastic wrap. Too bad.
As other's have said, I'm betting the problem is that people are unplugging the connector by pulling on the cord. Especially if you try to pull the MagSafe connector straight out. It's a pretty tough magnet. You are sure to pull the wires out of the connector if you do that enough times. The connector disengages more easily of you tilt it, but again, if you do that by pulling on the wire you are stressing the connection between the wire and the connector.
However, there is a design issue in that Apple made the connector too small, making it difficult to remove the connector without stressing the wires. Previous connectors were large enough that you could grasp the connector and pull it out.
Now that I see it explained that way, I can't help but think that wire stress really shouldn't be a problem given that the stated design is to release when given an inadvertent tug.
Quote:
I'd also point out that the MagSafe connector shown in the photo in the article appears to have seen some abuse. Look at the connector itself, how chipped up it looks. It looks as if either a cat had been chewing on it or it got sucked into a vacuum a few times.
Given the magnification, it's not so bad. The edges are so sharp that the plastic is going to nick on occasion. it's hard to tell with the rest of the connector body as it's out of focus beyond the nearest edge.
I had a 2 year old Macbook. I didn't even realize anything was wrong with the plug until it started smoking. A small tear in the rubber closest to the mag connector. I covered it up with electrical tape and didn't think twice about it. I was reluctant on shelling out $80 bucks for a new one.
A day later, the electrical tape caught on fire and I had a melted ball of rubber on the end of the connector.
I brought it to the Apple Store and they replaced it with a brand new one free of charge. I was just happy I didn't have to come out the pockets for it.
Say..... would you please back up your computer and send it to us.
Then... give them a full refund and keep the computer.... give them a check and a letter that says they have proved that they are entirely TOO STUPID to own a COMPUTER.
Like another person said in here... I've had several power books and ibooks... and the cords were fine so long as you didn't close one in a door... have a pet that chewed on it... or anything like that.
You know.... things that can beat the heck out of a power cord and break it.
These kinds of lawsuits are such total bullshit! 3 idiots find a lawyer that will represent 3 idiots since they have a gripe with Apple.... which should be a gripe for just being freaking STUPID. This is like the guy that sued McDonalds for spilling hot coffee on himself. Or the other guy that said his daughter was so traumatized by not having a prize in a box of Cracker Jacks that he really needed millions of dollars to help her feel better.
This is the wussification of America. We need one of the few things that the UK has that we don't. It's called LOOSER PAYS. The idea being if you start some kind of fraudulent lawsuit against someone, or some company... and you LOOSE (As these morons should) You have to pay the legal bills for their defense.
We can all have accidents with these cords.... I know I have. I closed one in a door next to my desk once... duh... blonde moment on my part. But I didn't go screaming to Apple... YOU MADE A DEFECTIVE CORD....waaaaaa...
Take some personal responsibility folks. These guys are tards trying to take advantage of Apple.... If there was a real problem we would have heard tons of people complaining on here.
Geez..... I'm surprised they didn't have their computer plugged into their cig lighter in the car while they were filling up on a hot day with no breeze....
Then I guess we'd be talking about a Darwin Award.
Z
I agree with some of what you said. I like the loser pays concept. However, I had a power cord for a G4 Powerbook that burned my fingers and made the skin turn white. It had always been wrapped around the two flip out prongs and I believe that from wrapping and unwrapping the adaptor literally hundreds of times that the cord became not only very filthy but mangled and twisted up on the insides. I believe this is what led to my cord's demise.
Mine was not a mag safe but here's the lesson folks... I was smart enough to see what the constant wrapping and unwrapping of my cord did to it so here's three things that I did and anyone else can do these to help prevent this from happening:
1. when I got a Macbook Pro, I bought an extra power adaptor to leave at the office so I didn't have to pack up the adaptor that I have at home.
2. I got a third power adaptor that quite literally stays in my laptop bag all the time and I only take it out if I'm traveling
3. I NEVER use the flip out prongs to wrap up the cord.
Now that I see it explained that way, I can't help but think that wire stress really shouldn't be a problem given that the stated design is to release when given an inadvertent tug.
A design to release from the occasional inadvertent tug to prevent the laptop from being pulled off the table is one thing. But that does not mean it was designed to be unplugged that way every time the laptop is unplugged. You don't use an emergency relief valve on a pressure vessel to lower the pressure under normal circumstances. You use the proper valve designed for that purpose. Repeated use of a component designed for the occasional emergency is going to eventually lead to failure of the component.
Both parties are at fault. People should know better than to unplug the connector by pulling on the cord. But Apple should have anticipated that people are stupid and lazy, and they should have designed the connector in a way to make it easier to grip the connector without pulling on, or bending, the wire (ie, they should have made the connector longer).
IMHO, Apple's cord from the laptop to the adapter has been roughly the same since the yo-yo adapters. Moreover, Apple has had fraying problems ever since they started using smaller gauges and smaller cable jackets. Just look at the reviews in the Apple store. They've been crappy for years.
The smaller gauges and cable jackets are easier to wrap and pack, which is nice. Wrapping a giant thick cable is a pain. However, they don't stand up to abuse as well as something like the power cable for your iron.
There's a lot of confusion here, so I'll explain exactly what the problem is ? it happened to mine just a couple months ago. (It's still under warranty so of course Apple replaced it.)
When the cord is bent too far in any direction near the magsafe plug, the wiring inside get pressed hard against the insulation and heats it up, eventually burning a hole right through it. (I noticed the problem when I touched the cable and it nearly burned me.)
This is not an issue of abuse ? this can easily happen if your cable bends back behind your computer, as was the case with mine. I had absolutely no reason to think that a minor bend in the cable would be enough to destroy it. It should not do so.
I do believe that this is a problem with the products themselves, not their abuse.
A design to release from the occasional inadvertent tug to prevent the laptop from being pulled off the table is one thing. But that does not mean it was designed to be unplugged that way every time the laptop is unplugged. You don't use an emergency relief valve on a pressure vessel to lower the pressure under normal circumstances. You use the proper valve designed for that purpose. Repeated use of a component designed for the occasional emergency is going to eventually lead to failure of the component.
Both parties are at fault. People should know better than to unplug the connector by pulling on the cord. But Apple should have anticipated that people are stupid and lazy, and they should have designed the connector in a way to make it easier to grip the connector without pulling on, or bending, the wire (ie, they should have made the connector longer).
Eh. As an industrial designer, I don't really think that's an excuse. A LOT of people are going to yank the cord. They shouldn't, but they will. It's convenient and 99.9% of the time the cord will be fine... so people will do it.
As a designer you should design a solution that accounts for how your users will interact, for better or worse, with your product. Look at the cord on an iron. The plug is big and grippy to indicate "I'm supposed to be grabbed," but just in case the user yanks the cord, the cord is thick and reinforced at the plug.
I'm not saying Apple needs to go back to 1999 and bring back the big fat power cord, but they could make some small design tweaks to address this. The connector could have some affordances that speak to "grab" and "pull here" (grippy lines, thumb indentation, etc.) Moreover, the cable could have a discreet rubber shield that stresses the mag safe connector, not the internal wiring.
I think pulling on the cord does cause this to happen to some people. Pulling is just something a lot of people do because it seems to make sense. No one thinks about the issue until it hits them hard. It's not as apparent an issue as dealing with the laptop itself. Putting a little warning sticker when ripping the plastic off the MagSafe could definitely go a long way (not to mention push back the lawsuits).
I also noticed the MacBook Air's MagSafe Adapter has a bit of a different design that seems far more cord-pull friendly than the MacBooks and MacBook Pro. That's probably because it was designed that way given how out of the way the connector is supposed to be. I actually kind of like that design better myself and was disappointed Apple didn't adopt it for the unibody MacBooks.
Work in IT. We have many users that have no issue with this at all, & a few who have major issues. So what's the difference? The users who have the issue %100 of the time also are users who don't take good care of their computers.
I'm not talking about minor bumps mind you, I'm talking people who had a Dell before & completely destroyed it so often we tried getting them a Panasonic ToughBook (which never worked right).
Apple has recommendations on how to wrap their cords. We constantly remind our users of this but they still ignore us & tear the cords up. Our Dell power cords suffer no less, many of them are worse than the Macs.
I also work in IT and we have had a couple of faulty power cords but on inspection it was clear that it was down to the user disconneting the cord by pulling it instead of the magsafe plug. However Apple swapped theseout for new power supplies without any questions. One of our users managed to go through 4 power supplies for his dell and acer laptops but has managed to keep his Apple one pristine after he was showed the correct way to disconnect and store it. The problem with all laptop power supplies is down to careless users. They yank cords out, wrap the cable up to tightly and generally abuse them. This causes the braided conductor to break inside the wire which causes a short (flex the wire and you can hear it crackling) and eventually this will melt/burn the cable.
Also the best way to disconnect a magsafe connector is not to pull it off (that is the direction in which the magnet is strongest) but upwards. You can disconnect it with the flick of a single finger.
Is this discussion about the original mag safe adapters when they first came out or the currently shipping ones? The original ones clearly had a design fault where the strain relief at the mag safe end wasn't big enough, causing the cable to fray at that point (though contrary to popular opinion, not because of yanking the cable out but because of constant minor movement back and forth if you use the laptop on your laptop with the cable dangling). The replacement has completely fixed that issue though.
The infamous PowerBook 5300 incident never made it out of the labs! There never was a recall for batteries that were never used in production models.
This isn't true. While the problem never occurred, to the best of my knowledge, outside of the labs, Apple did ship a thousand or so of the machines before they discovered the issue, and those all had to be recalled.
Comments
While I'm sure that a small percentage of them may be faulty I doubt it is anywhere near the figures they are claiming. Hell I still have two of the old style laptop adaptors that Apple used and they are fine too.
my iphone plug does that also...i tried covering it with tape but its still not great
Work in IT. We have many users that have no issue with this at all, & a few who have major issues. So what's the difference? The users who have the issue %100 of the time also are users who don't take good care of their computers.
I'm not talking about minor bumps mind you, I'm talking people who had a Dell before & completely destroyed it so often we tried getting them a Panasonic ToughBook (which never worked right).
Apple has recommendations on how to wrap their cords. We constantly remind our users of this but they still ignore us & tear the cords up. Our Dell power cords suffer no less, many of them are worse than the Macs.
Hopefully, Apple is providing a great experience to MacBook buyers.
Legally notarized pics or it didn't happen.
Unwrap your tin foil hat, its obviously cutting off blood flow
The "magsafe" is not the issue (idiot)... it's that the cable frays... which imho, is something all cables do, especially the used and abused ones.
Don't do personal attacks on other members here.
This happened to me! I've had one MagSafe connector melt while on vacation. Once I got back home, the Apple Store guy would not replace my power supply, telling me it wasn't part of the MacBook's warranty.
Was the guy giving me bull? If not for the AppleCare, what reason would we be allowed to get our power supplies replaced?
More recently, I've had another one crack, but not melt, and it still works. It's now on light-duty and I don't carry it around with me.
That sounds dubious. I would try again. But replace those things at any rate.
I had a power supply replaced under warranty, but it was a different problem, the pins wouldn't push out anymore, I think the springs inside just got brittle and broke.
Legally notarized pics or it didn't happen.
Legally notarized? Just a photo should be fine. Anything higher is way too high of a standard to demand here, this isn't a court or even Night Court. If you don't want the same applied to you when you make claims, you should avoid spouting that at others.
However, there is a design issue in that Apple made the connector too small, making it difficult to remove the connector without stressing the wires. Previous connectors were large enough that you could grasp the connector and pull it out.
I'd also point out that the MagSafe connector shown in the photo in the article appears to have seen some abuse. Look at the connector itself, how chipped up it looks. It looks as if either a cat had been chewing on it or it got sucked into a vacuum a few times.
The problems are from bone-head users. You can't treat power cables (or any cable) like crap and expect it to last. I see this all the time, and not just with computers. Have you looked at some people's vacuum cleaners?
For any cable to last and not fray/break/short/etc. you cannot: 1. Wind too tightly. 2. Tie in knots. 3. Bend the connector at sharp right angles (or worse) to 'tuck' it in. 4. Repeatedly bend and/or twist. 5. Yank out the plug or connector by pulling on the cable. 6. Other cable abuses like pets chewing on them. 7. Take environuts too seriously and use materials in cables that are weak. People need to clue in, and think.
Apple could mitigate their exposure to this problem by using a better strain relief on the cable. That little cheap piece of plastic wrapped around the cord at the connector end is mostly useless. They went to this cheaper design on all their cables, presumably to save .05 pennies per cable. Not a good choice if you think about it. A good example is the iPod cables - which used to have a molded, longer, more supportive, and more flexible strain relief, but now they all have the cheap short stubby plastic wrap. Too bad.
As other's have said, I'm betting the problem is that people are unplugging the connector by pulling on the cord. Especially if you try to pull the MagSafe connector straight out. It's a pretty tough magnet. You are sure to pull the wires out of the connector if you do that enough times. The connector disengages more easily of you tilt it, but again, if you do that by pulling on the wire you are stressing the connection between the wire and the connector.
However, there is a design issue in that Apple made the connector too small, making it difficult to remove the connector without stressing the wires. Previous connectors were large enough that you could grasp the connector and pull it out.
Now that I see it explained that way, I can't help but think that wire stress really shouldn't be a problem given that the stated design is to release when given an inadvertent tug.
I'd also point out that the MagSafe connector shown in the photo in the article appears to have seen some abuse. Look at the connector itself, how chipped up it looks. It looks as if either a cat had been chewing on it or it got sucked into a vacuum a few times.
Given the magnification, it's not so bad. The edges are so sharp that the plastic is going to nick on occasion. it's hard to tell with the rest of the connector body as it's out of focus beyond the nearest edge.
A day later, the electrical tape caught on fire and I had a melted ball of rubber on the end of the connector.
I brought it to the Apple Store and they replaced it with a brand new one free of charge. I was just happy I didn't have to come out the pockets for it.
I think apple should do this.....
Say..... would you please back up your computer and send it to us.
Then... give them a full refund and keep the computer.... give them a check and a letter that says they have proved that they are entirely TOO STUPID to own a COMPUTER.
Like another person said in here... I've had several power books and ibooks... and the cords were fine so long as you didn't close one in a door... have a pet that chewed on it... or anything like that.
You know.... things that can beat the heck out of a power cord and break it.
These kinds of lawsuits are such total bullshit! 3 idiots find a lawyer that will represent 3 idiots since they have a gripe with Apple.... which should be a gripe for just being freaking STUPID. This is like the guy that sued McDonalds for spilling hot coffee on himself. Or the other guy that said his daughter was so traumatized by not having a prize in a box of Cracker Jacks that he really needed millions of dollars to help her feel better.
This is the wussification of America. We need one of the few things that the UK has that we don't. It's called LOOSER PAYS. The idea being if you start some kind of fraudulent lawsuit against someone, or some company... and you LOOSE (As these morons should) You have to pay the legal bills for their defense.
We can all have accidents with these cords.... I know I have. I closed one in a door next to my desk once... duh... blonde moment on my part. But I didn't go screaming to Apple... YOU MADE A DEFECTIVE CORD....waaaaaa...
Take some personal responsibility folks. These guys are tards trying to take advantage of Apple.... If there was a real problem we would have heard tons of people complaining on here.
Geez..... I'm surprised they didn't have their computer plugged into their cig lighter in the car while they were filling up on a hot day with no breeze....
Then I guess we'd be talking about a Darwin Award.
Z
I agree with some of what you said. I like the loser pays concept. However, I had a power cord for a G4 Powerbook that burned my fingers and made the skin turn white. It had always been wrapped around the two flip out prongs and I believe that from wrapping and unwrapping the adaptor literally hundreds of times that the cord became not only very filthy but mangled and twisted up on the insides. I believe this is what led to my cord's demise.
Mine was not a mag safe but here's the lesson folks... I was smart enough to see what the constant wrapping and unwrapping of my cord did to it so here's three things that I did and anyone else can do these to help prevent this from happening:
1. when I got a Macbook Pro, I bought an extra power adaptor to leave at the office so I didn't have to pack up the adaptor that I have at home.
2. I got a third power adaptor that quite literally stays in my laptop bag all the time and I only take it out if I'm traveling
3. I NEVER use the flip out prongs to wrap up the cord.
4. I learned how roadies / stage hands pack up mic cords and I wrap ALL my cords this way now. It saves them so much wear and tear and prevents them from getting tangled.
I hope that helps.
Now that I see it explained that way, I can't help but think that wire stress really shouldn't be a problem given that the stated design is to release when given an inadvertent tug.
A design to release from the occasional inadvertent tug to prevent the laptop from being pulled off the table is one thing. But that does not mean it was designed to be unplugged that way every time the laptop is unplugged. You don't use an emergency relief valve on a pressure vessel to lower the pressure under normal circumstances. You use the proper valve designed for that purpose. Repeated use of a component designed for the occasional emergency is going to eventually lead to failure of the component.
Both parties are at fault. People should know better than to unplug the connector by pulling on the cord. But Apple should have anticipated that people are stupid and lazy, and they should have designed the connector in a way to make it easier to grip the connector without pulling on, or bending, the wire (ie, they should have made the connector longer).
The smaller gauges and cable jackets are easier to wrap and pack, which is nice. Wrapping a giant thick cable is a pain. However, they don't stand up to abuse as well as something like the power cable for your iron.
When the cord is bent too far in any direction near the magsafe plug, the wiring inside get pressed hard against the insulation and heats it up, eventually burning a hole right through it. (I noticed the problem when I touched the cable and it nearly burned me.)
This is not an issue of abuse ? this can easily happen if your cable bends back behind your computer, as was the case with mine. I had absolutely no reason to think that a minor bend in the cable would be enough to destroy it. It should not do so.
I do believe that this is a problem with the products themselves, not their abuse.
A design to release from the occasional inadvertent tug to prevent the laptop from being pulled off the table is one thing. But that does not mean it was designed to be unplugged that way every time the laptop is unplugged. You don't use an emergency relief valve on a pressure vessel to lower the pressure under normal circumstances. You use the proper valve designed for that purpose. Repeated use of a component designed for the occasional emergency is going to eventually lead to failure of the component.
Both parties are at fault. People should know better than to unplug the connector by pulling on the cord. But Apple should have anticipated that people are stupid and lazy, and they should have designed the connector in a way to make it easier to grip the connector without pulling on, or bending, the wire (ie, they should have made the connector longer).
Eh. As an industrial designer, I don't really think that's an excuse. A LOT of people are going to yank the cord. They shouldn't, but they will. It's convenient and 99.9% of the time the cord will be fine... so people will do it.
As a designer you should design a solution that accounts for how your users will interact, for better or worse, with your product. Look at the cord on an iron. The plug is big and grippy to indicate "I'm supposed to be grabbed," but just in case the user yanks the cord, the cord is thick and reinforced at the plug.
I'm not saying Apple needs to go back to 1999 and bring back the big fat power cord, but they could make some small design tweaks to address this. The connector could have some affordances that speak to "grab" and "pull here" (grippy lines, thumb indentation, etc.) Moreover, the cable could have a discreet rubber shield that stresses the mag safe connector, not the internal wiring.
I also noticed the MacBook Air's MagSafe Adapter has a bit of a different design that seems far more cord-pull friendly than the MacBooks and MacBook Pro. That's probably because it was designed that way given how out of the way the connector is supposed to be. I actually kind of like that design better myself and was disappointed Apple didn't adopt it for the unibody MacBooks.
Work in IT. We have many users that have no issue with this at all, & a few who have major issues. So what's the difference? The users who have the issue %100 of the time also are users who don't take good care of their computers.
I'm not talking about minor bumps mind you, I'm talking people who had a Dell before & completely destroyed it so often we tried getting them a Panasonic ToughBook (which never worked right).
Apple has recommendations on how to wrap their cords. We constantly remind our users of this but they still ignore us & tear the cords up. Our Dell power cords suffer no less, many of them are worse than the Macs.
I also work in IT and we have had a couple of faulty power cords but on inspection it was clear that it was down to the user disconneting the cord by pulling it instead of the magsafe plug. However Apple swapped theseout for new power supplies without any questions. One of our users managed to go through 4 power supplies for his dell and acer laptops but has managed to keep his Apple one pristine after he was showed the correct way to disconnect and store it. The problem with all laptop power supplies is down to careless users. They yank cords out, wrap the cable up to tightly and generally abuse them. This causes the braided conductor to break inside the wire which causes a short (flex the wire and you can hear it crackling) and eventually this will melt/burn the cable.
Also the best way to disconnect a magsafe connector is not to pull it off (that is the direction in which the magnet is strongest) but upwards. You can disconnect it with the flick of a single finger.
The infamous PowerBook 5300 incident never made it out of the labs! There never was a recall for batteries that were never used in production models.
This isn't true. While the problem never occurred, to the best of my knowledge, outside of the labs, Apple did ship a thousand or so of the machines before they discovered the issue, and those all had to be recalled.