Macbook Pro 17in battery "expanding"!

I had the same issue with a battery from MacBook Pro 17" from August 2007. The Apple store here in Toronto replaced the battery because it was a "known issue" . Perhaps you can speak to an Apple store manager for redress.

The same thing is happening to me with a MacBook Pro 15" (end of 2008, bought in February 2009)…!

My trackpad started having trouble last January, when the computer (and thus the battery) was less than 2 years old. I took it to an A/S center, that could not (would not?) find the reason for this issue. I checked on the web if people were having similar issues, and found out immediately there were lots of them, and that it was actually caused by the battery. I checked mine, indeed it was swollen so I took it out, and the trackpad magically started to work again…!

I took the battery to an Apple Center, but now they're telling me that this is normal wear and I need to buy a new one, they will not change it for free…! Normal life expectancy for a battery is 2-3 years! Mine was under 2 years old when it started, I still have the A/S center bill proving it. I would accept to pay for a new one if it was a matter of the autonomy not lasting as long as before, but a swollen battery is NOT normal wear! It's a defective battery and has nothing to do with the way I used it!!

What I also find unacceptable is that, depending on the shop they're going to, some people get a free battery exchange even if they're no longer under guarantee, and others don't get anything! Why the double standard??

Store managers have a certain amount of discretionary latitude to replace things that are not, strictly speaking, under warranty. Two-year-old batteries fit that description. Whether or not a store manager does you a favor may depend on what kind of day/week s/he is having and on your own manners, as well as on less obvious factors like whether the part is in stock at the time.

eww: So basically, I just need to be lucky: find a good a person, on a good day, and be good myself, otherwise too bad for me… That's fair!

No, honestly, I understand that each situation has to be dealt with individually, and the causes and consequences are not the same for each computer presenting these symptoms. But I just find it extremely frustrating to know that I could get a free replacement and that in the end it is denied to me…

Matt_from_Eastbourne: I bought my computer in France, but I'm living in South Korea. Which makes it difficult to explain the situation to the people in the Apple Centers here, because I don't speak Korean and their English is limited… So they just took my battery for test, told me no, and that's it, no discussion possible… I need to try and see if I can contact the French center, but I doubt they will do anything for me over the phone…

As for replacing my battery with a cheaper one from another brand… I don't know… I've always thought it was a bit risky to put anything non-Apple in a Mac computer… But maybe I'm a bit too pro-Apple: I should realize that sometimes it fails as much as the others, as we've both experienced!

so basically, I just need to be lucky...

Yes. You're not entitled to a free battery, so you'll have to be lucky to get one.

Miyuri wrote:

Normal life expectancy for a battery is 2-3 years! Mine was under 2 years old when it started, I still have the A/S center bill proving it. I would accept to pay for a new one if it was a matter of the autonomy not lasting as long as before, but a swollen battery is NOT normal wear! It's a defective battery and has nothing to do with the way I used it!!

Apple warranties the battery for one-year under the manufacturer's limited warranty, three years under AppleCare Protection. If you buy a battery off the shelf or receive one as a replacement unit it carries the remainder of the limited warranty or APP (if in effect) otherwise it's a one-year limited warranty on the part. The warranty does not cover the battery if it's deemed consumed, only if defective.

Every time I've had a battery issue I've brought it into a service center/retail store and they've run a test on the battery/unit to determine if it's defective or consumed. A consumed battery can also be defective. Just because the battery is less than two years that does not automatically mean it's defective, nor does that entitle you to a replacement (free of charge).

But how can a swollen battery not be considered defective? Not only is this not a normal reaction to wear, but it's also dangerous…!

OK, so maybe they considered mine consumed as well as defective, and the consumption gets the priority in the way they respond to this (although I didn't have any issue with low autonomy…).

Anyway, thanks for the information, I'll go back to talk to them and see what I can do…

Miyuri wrote:

But how can a swollen battery not be considered defective? Not only is this not a normal reaction to wear, but it's also dangerous…!

Regrettably, that's a question that only Apple can answer. I've definitely seen numerous scenarios where a consumed battery will swell, I've seen it before in my time on the service bench. The problem, to a technician, if the battery is consumed it's consumed... even if it's also defective.

Should the battery swell, no. Do all batteries swell, no. But if there's one thing I've learned in my 8 years of provided service and support on Apple computers is that I learn something and see something new everyday. Most of which can't be explained and sometimes doesn't even make sense.

I'm now on my 3rd battery.

the time each battery has taken to burst out of its housing has drecreased with each one. i even bought the end of the line 2008 mb pro (hate glass screens) as i was told in store its to do with earlier models of mbp not regulating the batter or some bullcrap.

just called customer support and they wasnt over £100 for a new one. i feel like im being scammed.

The customer service agent also told me that there didn't seem to be much of a supply in London for replacement batteries, which brings me to another point - my laptops 3-4 years old now, i assume apple will stop supporting it soon and force me to buy another laptop.

it's all rather tiresome -_-'

Same thing has just happen to me — with a Macbook Pro 13 inch (mid 2009)! I was having trouble with the trackpad. My local Apple Store (in Beijing) discovered that the battery had expanded. Despite my pointing out that it was obviously defective rather than worn out, I had to pay for a new battery (about 160 dollars). Works fine now, but surely Apple should pay for this?

[Sidenote: Apple asked me to bring my passport to the shop "to prove my identity"!]

If your MBP is four years old, it seems quite plausible for the battery to be worn out. Worn out and failing batteries frequently do expand and interfere with the trackpad. Why do you think it is defective?

Plausible, perhaps. In fact the battery was performing perfectly despite the expansion. In no way was it failing. I would not have wanted to replace it. Hence my view that it was defective not worn out.

In your case, as in mine, the structural failure manifested before the electrical failure. Mine just took a little longer. Expansion, as I alluded to earlier, is a common failure mode of these batteries. A structural manufacturing defect should have manifested much earlier.