MacBook Pro Battery Recall: What the Official Records Show

Was Your Apple Laptop's Battery Covered? The Products the Recalls Named

Each of the three notices is an official CPSC record, and each names specific batteries rather than whole computer lines.

The 2004 notice, recall number 04-201, dated August 19, 2004, covers "Rechargeable batteries used in 15-inch PowerBook G4 computers," about 28,000 units. It states that the batteries "contain cells manufactured during the last week of December 2003 only," carry model number A1045, and have serial numbers beginning with HQ404, HQ405, HQ406, HQ407 or HQ408. It names LG Chem Ltd., of South Korea, as the battery manufacturer.

The 2005 notice, recall number 05-179, dated May 20, 2005, covers "Rechargeable batteries for iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 computers," about 128,000 units in the United States. It also names LG Chem Ltd. as the battery manufacturer.

The 2006 notice, recall number 06-245, dated August 24, 2006, covers "Rechargeable, lithium-ion batteries with cells manufactured by Sony for certain previous iBook G4 and PowerBook G4 notebook computers only." It counts about 1.1 million battery packs, and states that "an additional 700,000 battery packs were sold outside the U.S." It names Sony Energy Devices Corp., of Japan, as the cell manufacturer.

The 2004 and 2005 notices each state that "No other PowerBook or iBook batteries are involved in this recall." The 2006 notice states that "No other Apple notebook computers are involved in this recall." None of the three names a MacBook Pro. That is a statement about what these three records list, not a conclusion about any other Apple product. For a wider view, see the site's page on Apple battery overheating records.

If your laptop is a MacBook Pro, these records do not list it. If it is an older iBook G4 or PowerBook G4, the battery's model and serial number, set out below, are what decide whether one of these notices applies.

Affected Models and Serial Ranges

Two notices tell owners to "remove the battery from the computer to view the model and serial numbers labeled on the bottom of the unit." The ranges each notice lists:

The 2006 notice lists Apple's online store, Apple retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers from October 2003 through August 2006 as places of sale. If you still have an old battery, the label is what connects it to a record, and a photo of that label is one thing a person may choose to keep. The site's guide to a lithium battery recall lookup walks through reading a notice field by field.

The Hazard the CPSC Identified in Each Recall

All three batteries are lithium-ion batteries: rechargeable batteries that store energy by moving lithium ions between two electrodes inside sealed cells. They hold a lot of energy in a small space, which is why laptops use them, and why a failure inside a cell can turn into heat.

The 2004 and 2005 notices use the same words: "An internal short can cause the battery cells to overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers."

The 2006 notice states: "These lithium-ion batteries can overheat, posing a fire hazard to consumers."

When a notice says "internal short," it means an unintended electrical path inside the cell, a failure that starts within the battery rather than from anything outside it. If you have read about battery fires, you may also have met the term thermal runaway: a self-feeding heating cycle inside a cell, where heat sets off reactions that produce more heat, which can end in fire. The notices themselves use the words "overheat" and "fire hazard," and that is the language they should be read in.

A hazard statement says what the agency and the company announced the battery could do. It does not say that any battery did it in any particular home, and it is not a finding that the product injured anyone or that any firm is liable. If you were burned when a laptop overheated, the hazard language shows what the official record warned about. Whether your battery was one of the recalled units, and what happened to it, are separate questions, and a person in that position may weigh how the failure looked (heat, smoke, swelling, flame) against the hazard each notice describes. Sorting out that connection is one thing a conversation with our attorney can cover.

If You Received a Replacement Battery: What the Official Remedy Was

Each notice lists "Replace" as the remedy, then states it in full.

The 2004 notice: "Consumers should stop using the recalled batteries immediately and contact Apple to arrange for a replacement battery, free of charge."

The 2005 and 2006 notices give identical wording, adding: "After removing the recalled battery from their iBook or PowerBook, consumers should plug in the AC adapter to power the computer until a replacement battery arrives."

The 2004 notice adds two general sentences: "Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer product." Each notice gave a way to contact Apple, including web addresses for checking a serial number.

These remedies were announced in 2004, 2005 and 2006, and the notices describe them as of those dates. This page does not describe any of them as an open program today. Each CPSC page also carries a "Recall Complaint" line for people "experiencing issues with a recall remedy."

A replacement battery and an injury claim are different things. The remedy addressed the battery. It did not address burns, smoke exposure or damage to a home, and a person who received a replacement may still have questions about what an earlier overheating event caused. How a recall remedy fits alongside an injury claim is one of the things a conversation with our attorney can cover.

Incident Reports the CPSC Published

Each notice reports the incidents Apple had received at the time, in these words.

The 2004 notice: "Apple has received four reports of batteries overheating, though no injuries have been reported."

The 2005 notice: "Apple has received six reports worldwide of batteries overheating, including two reports in the United States."

The 2006 notice: "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."

If your own burn or fire is not reflected in these counts, that does not mean it did not happen or does not matter. Each count reflects only the reports Apple had received as of that notice's date. A report is a description of an event, not a confirmed cause, so these numbers neither prove nor disprove why any battery, including yours, failed. Each record also describes specific batteries with specific serial ranges, and none describes a defect or pattern across Apple's products.

For someone hurt by an overheating laptop, what matters more is the record of your own event: when and where it happened, what the device did, and what injury or damage followed. Writing that account down while it is fresh is something a person in this position may consider, and it is the starting point for any conversation with our attorney.

Does a Recall Prove Your Claim? What a Recall Record Does and Does Not Establish

A recall is a corrective action, often voluntary, coordinated with the CPSC, that identifies a hazard and directs a remedy. The 2004 and 2006 notices each describe Apple as "voluntarily recalling" the batteries "In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission."

Federal law sets the framework. Under 15 U.S.C. § 2064, a manufacturer, distributor or retailer that "obtains information which reasonably supports the conclusion" that a product contains a defect which could create a substantial product hazard, or "creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death," must "immediately inform the Commission," unless it knows the Commission has already been adequately informed. The same section lets the Commission, after an opportunity for a hearing, order notice, repair, replacement or refund where it determines a product presents a substantial product hazard.

The CPSC's reporting rule, 16 C.F.R. § 1115.4, tells companies what counts as a defect when deciding whether to report to the agency: "a fault, flaw, or irregularity that causes weakness, failure, or inadequacy in form or function." It notes that a defect may come from "a manufacturing or production error," from a product's design, or from its "warnings, and/or instructions." For someone who was hurt, the point is that this definition guides what firms report. It is not the test a court applies in an injury case.

That test comes from product liability law: the body of law that governs claims against manufacturers, distributors or sellers when a product causes injury. Product liability is mostly state law. It generally recognizes three kinds of defect: a design defect (the product as designed carries a risk), a manufacturing defect (a unit differs from its design) and a warning defect (instructions or warnings fall short). Depending on the state and the theory, a claim may ask for a duty, its breach, causation and damages, or a defect and causation. The elements, fault rules and damages rules differ from state to state.

A recall is not a finding that the product was defective in a particular case, an incident report does not prove what caused an injury, a lawsuit is not a finding of liability, and an allegation is not a fact. A recall can be relevant evidence. It does not stand in for proving what a claim requires. The same distinction runs through other records, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall. If you are weighing what a recall means for your situation, useful questions include which kind of defect might fit what happened and which state's law applies, and both are questions a conversation with our attorney can help sort out.

Why the Records May Matter If a Battery Injured You

A recall notice is one record among several. If you were hurt when a laptop battery overheated, the records that usually matter include medical records, photos and video of the device and the scene, the laptop and battery themselves, the receipt or order history, any fire department, incident or police reports, and the names of people who saw what happened. With older Apple batteries, the label's model and serial number is what ties a battery to a notice, or shows it falls outside one.

Whether a recall record is relevant in a given case depends on its facts: whether the battery was a recalled unit, how it was used and stored, what failed, and how the injury happened. A battery outside the listed serial ranges is not cleared by that fact, and one inside them is not proven to have caused anything.

Time also matters in a legal sense. A statute of limitations is the deadline set by state law within which a person must file a legal claim. Limitation periods, when they start to run and their exceptions differ from state to state, and some states also have other time limits for product cases. One state's rules are set out on the site's page for a California lithium battery injury lawyer, as California's rules only.

If you are weighing what the records mean for an injury, or how a deadline may apply, you may want to consider requesting a case evaluation, a conversation with our attorney about what happened.