Apple Battery Swelling: What the Official Records Say

What Battery Swelling Is and How It Can Happen

Battery swelling is what happens when gas builds up inside a lithium-ion cell and pushes its casing out of shape, so that it bulges or deforms. A sealed cell has no room to hold that gas, so the pouch or case stretches. In a thin device, the swelling can press against the screen, the trackpad or the housing.

Swelling is a general lithium-ion problem, not one tied to any brand. The causes usually discussed include exposure to heat, overcharging, physical damage such as a drop or a puncture, the wear that comes with age, and variation in how individual cells were made.

A swollen battery is a physical hazard in its own right. It can crack a screen, warp a case or damage the device around it. In some cases it can come before a more serious failure, often thermal runaway: a self-feeding cycle in which heat inside the cell triggers reactions that make more heat. Thermal runaway can lead the cell to vent, catch fire or rupture. Not every swollen battery goes on to fail this way, and swelling alone says nothing about how a particular product will behave. The site's page on lithium battery thermal runaway explains that process in more depth, and the site's general guide, "Swollen Lithium Battery," covers swelling itself in fuller technical detail.

For someone who was burned, or whose home was damaged, the link between a swollen cell and what followed is usually the central question. It is a question of fact, not something a bulge in the casing answers by itself.

What the Official Records Say About Apple Products

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the federal agency that oversees most consumer products, has published three recall notices naming Apple. A recall is an action, often voluntary and taken in cooperation with the CPSC, in which a company withdraws or replaces a product and gives public notice of a stated hazard. Each notice is summarized below exactly as its CPSC page states it, newest first.

The first is CPSC recall 06-245, dated August 24, 2006, titled "Apple Announces Recall of Batteries Used in Previous iBook and PowerBook Computers Due To Fire Hazard." It covers "Rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries with cells manufactured by Sony for certain previous iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 notebook computers only." The notice lists the 12-inch iBook G4, the 12-inch PowerBook G4 and the 15-inch PowerBook G4, with specific battery model and serial number ranges. It names Sony Energy Devices Corp., of Japan, as the battery cell manufacturer. It states the hazard this way: "These lithium-ion batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers." The notice reports that "Apple has received nine reports of batteries overheating, including two reports of minor burns from handling overheated computers and other reports of minor property damage. No serious injuries were reported." The remedy it lists is a replacement battery.

The second is CPSC recall 05-179, dated May 20, 2005, titled "CPSC, Apple Announce Recall of iBook and PowerBook Computer Batteries." It covers rechargeable batteries for the same three computer models, with model numbers A1061, A1078 and A1079 and listed serial ranges. It names LG Chem Ltd., of South Korea, as the battery manufacturer. Its hazard statement reads: "An internal short can cause the battery cells to overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers." It reports "six reports worldwide of batteries overheating, including two reports in the United States." The remedy is a replacement.

The third is CPSC recall 04-201, dated August 19, 2004, titled "CPSC, Apple Announce Recall of PowerBook Computer Batteries." It covers batteries with model number A1045, used in the 15-inch PowerBook G4 (Aluminum), whose cells the notice says were "manufactured during the last week of December 2003 only." It names LG Chem Ltd. as the battery manufacturer and gives the same internal-short hazard statement. It reports "four reports of batteries overheating, though no injuries have been reported." The remedy is a replacement.

None of these three notices describes battery swelling. The hazard each one names is overheating that poses a fire hazard, and each limits itself to the batteries, models and serial numbers it lists. Two of them say directly that no other PowerBook or iBook batteries are involved. These records do not establish battery swelling as a known or documented problem of Apple products, and they say nothing about phones, tablets or later computers.

A recall is not a finding that a product injured anyone, and it is not a finding that the company is liable. Under 15 U.S.C. § 2064, a notice issued under a CPSC order generally includes, among other things, a description of the product, the action being taken, "a description of the substantial product hazard and the reasons for the action," and any remedy. That is a notice of a stated hazard, not a ruling on any one person's injury. For matching a device to a notice, the site's lithium battery recall lookup walks through the fields. The overheating hazard in these same three notices is covered on the site's page on Apple battery overheating.

What People in This Situation Usually Do and Keep

When a battery incident is later looked at closely, the physical product is often the most important piece. The device, the battery and any charger that was in use can show where a failure started and what condition the battery was in. What happens to them after an incident can shape what can be examined later.

Where someone was hurt, the records that usually matter include medical records from the care that followed, photos and video of the swelling, the device and any damage to the room or property around it, and the receipt or order history that shows where and when the product was bought. Where a fire department or police officer came out, their incident report is often part of the picture, as are the names of anyone who saw what happened. Families after a house fire often gather insurance correspondence too.

People also tend to write down, while it is fresh, what they noticed and when: how long the device had been in use, whether it had been repaired or had a replacement battery fitted, how it was being charged, and when the swelling or heat first appeared. Whether a battery had been replaced, and by whom, can matter a great deal, because it may change which product and which company are actually involved.

None of this is a checklist that decides anything. Which items are relevant depends on the specific facts, the product involved and the state where it happened. A conversation with our attorney can help a person sort out which records bear on their situation and which questions are still open.

Working Out Who May Be Responsible When a Battery Swells and Someone Is Hurt

Product liability is the body of law that may hold a manufacturer, importer, seller or repairer responsible for harm caused by a defective product. It looks at the product and the role each business played in getting it to the person who was hurt.

The law generally recognizes three kinds of defect. A design defect means the product's design itself is unsafe, even when every unit is built as intended. A manufacturing defect is a flaw introduced during production, so a particular unit differs from its design. A warning defect means the instructions or warnings about a known risk were inadequate. The CPSC's reporting regulation, 16 C.F.R. § 1115.4, describes a defect in similar terms: "a defect is a fault, flaw, or irregularity that causes weakness, failure, or inadequacy in form or function." It adds that a defect can arise from a manufacturing or production error, from the design or materials, or from a product's "contents, construction, finish, packaging, warnings, and/or instructions." That regulation governs what firms report to the CPSC, not who wins a lawsuit, but it shows how the concept is understood.

A product liability claim generally requires a defect, causation (proof that the defect actually caused the harm), and damages. For a person whose device swelled or burned, this means the condition of the battery is a starting point rather than an answer: a swollen or burned battery does not by itself prove a defect, and a defect does not by itself prove it caused a particular injury. That is one reason the device and the records described above often carry so much weight.

Battery products often pass through several hands. A cell maker, the company that assembled the battery pack, the company that built the device, an importer, a retailer and a repair shop that fitted a replacement may each have played a part. The three recall notices above illustrate this: each names a separate battery or cell manufacturer alongside the computer manufacturer. In practical terms, if a battery was swapped out at some point, the company whose name is on the device may not be the company whose battery failed. More than one party in that chain may bear responsibility, or none may, depending on what the evidence shows. The site's guide to lithium battery injury claims explains these roles more broadly.

For anyone trying to work out which of these roles applies to a device that swelled, overheated or burned, it is possible to talk the facts through with our attorney, including where the battery came from and whether it had ever been replaced.

How the State Where a Battery Swelling Injury Happened Shapes a Claim

State law, not one national rule, governs most battery injury claims. The rules differ from state to state, and no state's rule is the rule everywhere.

A statute of limitations is the deadline set by state law by which a lawsuit must be filed; after it passes, a court may refuse to hear the claim. Each state sets its own periods, its own rules for when the clock starts and its own exceptions. Some states also have separate deadlines tied to the age of a product. The state where the injury happened and the date it happened largely determine which rules apply, and missing a filing deadline can bar a claim entirely. For an injured person, the date of the incident and its location are therefore two of the first facts that matter.

States also differ on fault. Comparative fault is a rule under which a court may reduce what an injured person can recover by that person's own share of blame. Some states apply it in pure form, and others cut off recovery once the injured person's share reaches a set level. Contributory fault is an older and stricter rule under which an injured person's own fault, even a small share, can bar recovery. Questions about how a device was charged or handled can carry different weight depending on which approach the state follows.

Damages rules and wrongful-death rules vary too. The law may allow categories such as medical expenses, lost earnings, and pain and suffering, and in a death case it may allow wrongful-death damages to certain family members. Who may bring a wrongful-death claim, and what it may include, is set state by state.

For someone recovering from a burn or grieving a family member, the same battery failure can lead to different answers depending on where it happened, and the deadlines do not move.