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My MacBook battery has swollen alarmingly, buckling the aluminium casing and cracking the trackpad. It is swelling so much that the aluminium is straining against the 10 screws around the casing. Basically, my previously perfectly good laptop has wrecked itself. The laptop is out of warranty and the model superseded. My research suggests that the battery may explode and/or catch fire imminently. What are my rights?
Looks like my 2011 case, though you did not say what your model is. There have been some programs about batteries going bad, but only 1-800-MY-APPLE can officially speak to your options.
Yes, it can in extreme cases catch fire. You likely will just have the system stop dead one day (soon) and never come back on. If it is a 2011 system, I suggest you move to a new system and be glad it ran as long as it did (many Windows laptops are built too cheaply to last even 4 years). You can still extract the HD/SSD and use an external enclosure to read the data.
Looks like my 2011 case, though you did not say what your model is. There have been some programs about batteries going bad, but only 1-800-MY-APPLE can officially speak to your options.
Yes, it can in extreme cases catch fire. You likely will just have the system stop dead one day (soon) and never come back on. If it is a 2011 system, I suggest you move to a new system and be glad it ran as long as it did (many Windows laptops are built too cheaply to last even 4 years). You can still extract the HD/SSD and use an external enclosure to read the data.
In addition to @steve359's wonderful advice if the laptop is a 2012 model, then you may still be able to get an official Apple battery replacement. I highly recommend an official Apple battery if it is at all possible. If you are unable to get an official Apple repair to due COVID19, then you could order a third party replacement battery from OWC. The quality of third party Lithium-ion batteries is very poor even from a such a reputable vendor as OWC. Results vary greatly even with OWC batteries.
If you do replace the battery yourself I would highly recommend keeping the original swollen battery safe so you can later get an official Apple battery. Apple needs the original battery in order to provide you with an official Apple battery repair.
Regardless, If it was my laptop I would remove the swollen battery and put it somewhere safe (inside a metal tin would be best to keep the battery from being accidentally punctured or compressed. You do need to be extremely careful when handling a swollen battery as you want to avoid puncturing it or applying any pressure to it. At least with the battery removed and safely stored you can continue to use the laptop (perhaps a mouse will be needed). Just be careful to hold the bottom case as you remove the screws since there is a lot of pressure on the case. It can cause the screws to go flying across the room.
Thanks for your comment. Yes, it is probably around 10 years old and due for replacement (I already have an iMAC) but I did not expect it to self-destruct so spectacularly. I do want to remove the HDD for security reasons if nothing else, before disposing of the laptop responsibly. All I need is the right tools and PPE...
Thanks for your comment. Because the shell is so badly damaged, I probably won't bother with a new battery, even if a suitable Apple one were available. As I replied to Steve359, I would be content to remove the HDD, in order to secure my data, if I could do it safely. Thanks for the safety advice on the battery. Seeing the aluminium case deforming against the screws makes me extremely nervous about tackling the job and I will certainly wear full PPE before proceeding.
As an aside, the damage is so bad that I initially thought a cyber criminal had tried to steal my hard drive. I've been around computers since the 1970s but I had no idea Apple were selling me a self-destructing time bomb when I got this one.
ifixit.com has the instructions to remove. As to "self destructing bomb", lithium-ion is tricky. Hoverboards were banned on planes for a while due to bad batteries, and phones burned up right in the pockets of people. Apple (Samsung, everybody else) relied on people who sometimes got it wrong.
MacBook Pro battery swollen
