iPhone 3gs exploding expanding battery

wow my post got deleted twice already. Anyways this happened to me too just yesterday. I was using the phone and it got really hot. I put my phone down and POOF the screen popped out with smoke coming out of the phone...Apple should really own up to their own manufacture defect.

This just isnt about a battery losing its life, but its a safety issue. Right before this happened, the battery was fine and it was holding charges fine. There were no signs or symptoms telling me the battery was about to explode.

ps. I took another screen shot to see if apple will delete my post or not

You and Boeing...

I got my old 3GS replaced at an Apple Store yesterday for $80 - it was out of warranty but they said they would replace it as a battery problem. This was the second Apple Store I went to - the first tried to sell me a new battery for $150. I found an authorized Apple repair shop and they told me to go ASAP to Apple (and go to a store that wasn't as busy as the one I went to) and they should offer to replace for $50 - $100, confirming that the battery was swelling and it could explode or at least leak and damage the board. The second Apple Store was great - I did not have to throw a hissy-fit to get them to replace, just dropped a few key words like product defect; the Genius at the first store just wanted to get rid of me.

I noticed the problem when I was finally getting ready to sell the phone. I got a new iphone 5 in Nov. and had sold the phone after taking photographs of the phone in mid Jan. No bulging back and screen was clear and bright. I did notice that the phone was not holding a charge very well. Sold the phone about 10 days later and while getting it ready I noticed a dark spot on the screen, below the glass. when I pressed on the area, the spot moved. got an appt at Apple that afternoon and the Genius told me that the battery was swelling and pushing upwards and that's what caused the darkening. he opened the phone and apparently relieved some of the pressure but there was still a spot. obviously I could not sell with a known change so I checked around and found the place to replace the battery. in the 5 days between noticing the dark area and then going to get a new battery, the case started bulging. this was shocking as I was not charging or using the phone.

Took a while to find any info on battery swelling on Apple website (only here). Google 3GS battery swelling and the photos are grim - this is NOT unique problem. If your phone gets warm and the battery does not hold a charge, run, do not walk, to get the battery replaced.

I also have recently experienced my (nearly 3 year old) IPhone 3Gs turning into a sort of Jack-in-the-box device. The expansion of the battery completely destroyed the device,

I have contacted Apple and they have contacted me for the last 3 days. All nice people... true story.

My Apple case had just been 'resolved' which means Apple gave 2 options: paying for the repairs (expanded battery, cracked motherboard, cracked screen, bended/cracked housing) or buying a new IPhone.

A €600 device that self-destructs after 2 years by a malfunction that normally can occur when it is 'end of life' is questionable. Since Apple apparantly is very aware of this being a known issue with the IPhone 3Gs battery I think the Apple 'service' regarding my case and cases stated in this thread is terrible to say the least, warranty or no warranty. Even if Apple wasn't aware of it being a known issue the 'service' would still be terrible.

It's nice this 'safety feature' kept me from getting hurt but still I'm left without a device I did not intend to part from yet and costs lots of money to replace.

Bottom line is: the IPhone 3Gs is a device which carries the Apple logo, so I presume Apple is proud of such device. Considering so many cases of a 'safety feature' which renders the device is completely worthless after a period of a few years... I consider this a design flaw. The customer should not pay for such a flaw or 'bad luck' for that matter.

Johnny Silver: Does your last sentence have a typo, or an error in translation? Did you mean to say "The customeer should NOT pay for such a flaw..." ? Otherwise, are you saying that customers should pay "€600 device that self-destructs after 2 years by a malfunction that normally can occur"?

My question is: why should customers pay for this? What if automobiles became useless after 3 years? I'm sure there would be government action taken and the companies that produced such cars would be fined or lose their license to operate.

<Edited By Host>

How about reporting the issue to the Consumer Product Safety Commission here in the US (and there must be something similar in the EU and other countries as well. To file a report with the CPSC, go to https://www.saferproducts.gov/CPSRMSPublic/Incidents/ReportIncident.aspx

Even though my phone did not explode, it appears that I can still report it under these instructions.

... a description of an illness, injury, or death, or the risk of illness, injury, or death related to use of the product;

Apple should not be so cavalier in its response to consumers who have bought their phones only to find out a couple years later that the diminshed battery can cause major damage to the phone and physical damage to a person. They should issue a recall, send notices to those who have purchased the phones, and replace the batteries for free.

Going forward, Apple needs to be abundantly clear about the life of their batteries and risks that can occur.

Edited my post already, I forgot the most important word indeed ;-)

The customer should not pay indeed.

Here's the key point: Apple has hundreds of billions in the bank so they can afford to back up their products when they self-destruct after just two and a half years. Please Apple do the right thing and respond to the people who have experienced the exploding iPhone 3GS and compensate us for our loss.

<Edited By Host>

Agreed, Toyota can recall 7 million cars and survive. Apple can compensate for their faulty IPhone 3Gs's and survive I presume...

Barry Shell, I'm curious why your last post was <Edited By Host>...

Presumably something in the portion removed violated the Terms of Use, which, among other things, prohibit discussions of Apple policy and do not permit polls of members. Apple intends the forums to be for the purpose of providing technical support, not as general purpose blogs.

As Lawrence says, it was because I had asked people in this thread to weigh in on how we can get Apple to respond to the issue that has been identified here. Like 99.99999% of people I do not read Terms of Use agreements, so I did not know this was not allowed--which is a shame, by the way. I imagine this post may also be edited by host, too.

I submitted a report to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission about an unsafe product.

I gave my 3gs to my niece in order for her to use Straight Talk by Walmart when I purchased my Iphone 5. She never got a chance to use the phone as it blew up on her. The batter swole and the MB if bent. This is really disheartening. I can not afford to purchase such an expensive item that self destructs after only 2 years. I must make a complaint

Hopefully you still have what's left of the phone. Please take it to Apple and demand that they replace it. If you got it elsewhere, take it back and tell them that Apple is replacing phones when the batteries swell.