Macbook Pro Caught Fire

ttroyer wrote:

Mine didn’t catch fire… yet, but felt like it was going to burn me through my backpack. I wish I could find more information about this issue. My MacBookPro scares me!

It is rare for a Lithium Battery to catch fire.

A laptop getting very hot while in a backup is caused by the laptop not being fully asleep or powered off. Recently this forum has been getting more reports of their laptops running hotter.....sometimes with the battery draining overnight when the laptop was thought to be asleep. My organization has also been receiving some reports from our users.

There are a lot of possibilities why a laptop will run hot and not go to sleep fully, or why a laptop may wake up from sleep. Many times it will be related to software issues (usually due to third party software), but it can also be related to hardware design issues. With the USB-C Macs, connecting or disconnecting anything from the laptop can cause the laptop to power on or wake up, so it is best to first disconnect all external devices from the laptop (including the power adapter) prior to sleeping or powering down the laptop. It would actually be best to just power down the laptop so the battery does not drain too quickly. You must also be careful not to touch any keys or even the Trackpad since that will also power on or wake up the laptop.

The Apple Intel USB-C laptops from 2016-2020 can get very hot during normal use....hot enough where you may even say "Ouch!" when touching a specific area of the Bottom Case.

While you do need to address the issue with your laptop, it is not a fire safety issue. Don't fret about it catching fire. You may want to start your own thread to see if the forum contributors can figure out what may be causing your laptop to run hot and not sleep. I can tell you from personal experience trying to troubleshoot such issues with my organization's Macs, that it is not always easy to figure out a reason. From my brief list above, you can see there are a lot of accidental ways to wake/power on the 2016+ laptops, and that didn't even cover all the possible software & configuration possibilities.

The only Apple laptop with a known higher than normal fire safety issue with the battery is the MacBook Pro 15" (2015) model which still has an active Battery Recall Program for a free battery replacement. Only a small number of that very specific model laptop are affected by the problem. Even if you have that very specific model laptop with a serial number that matches the laptops known to have the faulty battery, just run the battery down until the battery charge level is below 20% so it is impossible for the battery to catch fire until you can have Apple replace the faulty battery.

15-inch MacBook Pro Battery Recall Program - Apple Support

FYI, here is an Apple article with a list of the current publicly acknowledged free repair programs for various Apple products:

Apple Service Programs - Apple Support

As long as your laptop is not this very specific model and the serial number does not show up as being part of the Battery Recall Program, then you don't have to worry about the battery in your laptop catching fire since batteries catching fire is not very common. Think about it, you've seen maybe a dozen news reports about them catching fire, but that is out of millions of laptops....that is a very small number which have caught fire.

Thank you for participating in the Apple Support Community.

We want to make sure you reach the right team for help with your device. We recommend that you contact Apple Support directly. Depending on your region, you may be able to reach them here: Get Support.

Looks like a battery fire, which is more common than most people would think with anything that uses a lithium-ion battery. Not sure what they might do but it's often something that manufacturers will handle as a courtesy.

Don't travel with it turned on. It can wake up during travel if the wrong keys get depressed, or if the latch mechanism (even if magnetic) becomes unhooked. Being in a travel bag when turned on can create a tendency to overheat. It it is best to shut down before putting in the bag, and only turn on when ready for use.

This is true of PCs as well as Macs.

People who have their batteries replaced by themselves or third parties or access the internal part of their computer have to be very careful not to let anything touch the battery during any operation. If they don't, something sharp could touch it and cause it to get air into the chambers of the battery which can lead to thermal runaway. Hence a very good reason only to let an Authorized Service Tech from Apple do the work of any internal work.

Spills of sugar or other non-water drinks on the keyboard or vents can get into the battery area and create similar conditions. Real hard drops and bumps against the case can also be problematic.

Electrical fires can only be put out by pure sand.

Speak to an Apple Authorized Service Tech if your arm rest ever starts bloating out of shape, as that can indicate a condition that could lead to a fire. Shut down the computer and take it to one if that should ever happen.

Hi,

Seeing is believing, your MacBook Pro battery was something wrong, and Apple should tell us about MacBook Pro and its battery lot, since it's very dangerous.

We are Users like you. We can't send you some settings to change to fix that.

You need to be dealing with Apple support.

You take a faulty unit back to the maker for adjustment.

Mine didn’t catch fire… yet, but felt like it was going to burn me through my backpack. I wish I could find more information about this issue. My MacBookPro scares me!