Apple Sued After Magsafe Adapter Lights Owner On Fire

[iamdarkyoshi]

 

Sauce: https://www.cnet.com/news/lawsuit-alleges-apples-magsafe-adapter-ignited-womans-oxygen-mask/

 

Quote

She was allegedly using a MagSafe power adapter to power her Apple MacBook when a spark ignited the oxygen in the mask she was using for her chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, asthma and emphysema.

 

A flash fire engulfed Manzi's "face and skull in flames," causing her "serious and substantial personal injuries," according to the suit, which was earlier reported by AppleInsider.

 

The lawsuit notes that Apple previously acknowledged the danger of the MagSafe "fraying, sparking, melting and overheating" through an extended warranty program but alleges that Apple failed to adequately warn people.

 

Yup. These things are prone to fraying due to soft insulation used on the cables that makes them feel nice, but gets damaged easily, and quite small strain reliefs.

 

They also have power pins in very close proximity to each other, which can be easily shorted out on metal objects. I do know the OEM adapters actually lower the voltages when idle to only a couple volts across the pins until a load is detected, to avoid large sparks from a short, but its not foolproof.

 

Its not clear if it was a damaged cable or a short on the power pins, based off what I've read.

 

If she kept using a frayed cable, IMO that's her fault for being a moron and not replacing something electrical that was obviously damaged, but if she accidentally shorted it out on something else, I would put the blame on apple for that. The +12/16/18v and ground pins are too close IMO. I'm not aware of any other charger that can be shorted so easily, especially considering the entire chassis of the intended computer is metal.

 

Leave your thoughts below!

[Crunchy Dragon]

I guess it's a good thing Apple switched from MagSafe...

 

The only really nice thing about those cables anyway was that they didn't put up a fight coming out of the port, which helped reduce damage.

[Enderman]

So was it actually the magsafe that caused the spark or was it the damaged cable?

Because those are two completely different things.

The latter is the fault of the user.

[PlayStation 2]

Can't wait for all the "Apple bad reeeee" comments.

[manikyath]

21 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I guess it's a good thing Apple switched from MagSafe...

 

The only really nice thing about those cables anyway was that they didn't put up a fight coming out of the port, which helped reduce damage.

it's not the magsafe tho.. it's the shyte cables they decided to attach to said magsafe.

[Blademaster91]

10 minutes ago, Enderman said:

So was it actually the magsafe that caused the spark or was it the damaged cable?

Because those are two completely different things.

The latter is the fault of the user.

To be fair it doesn't have anything to do with magsafe, Apple's cables fraying apart is a known thing since they use flimsy cheap garbage insulation.

8 minutes ago, handymanshandle said:

Can't wait for all the "Apple bad reeeee" comments.

Can't wait for all the "LTT is a bunch of Apple haters reeeee" comments.

[Ashleyyyy]

was it actually the adaptor itself or a spark from a damaged cable that ignited something flammable close it it? 

 

1. it's never a good idea to put flammable things close to computers

2. if you must do it try to eliminate as many factors that could cause fire. 

3. this to me sounds like a damaged cable causing the problem. to which my reply is why didn't the user replace something that is broken?

4. i'd like to know the specific model of MacBook. if it's an old one it could be a very old charger as well.

 

Just now, manikyath said:

it's not the magsafe tho.. it's the shyte cables they decided to attach to said magsafe.

again it depends on the age of the charger. if it's a 10 year old charger or even older (it was introduced in 2006 so depending on what model macbook the user has it could be 13 years old) in which case i wouldn't be surprised if the cable broke. 

 

[germgoatz]

apple bad reee

[Guest]

Those MagSafe 1 chargers are actually pretty robust. Picked my last one from the dump and it still went up until the day I sold it. 

 

Now the sparking etc was a common issue, however Apple implemented a firmware update in 2010 (As a result of a previous class-action lawsuit) that fixed it mostly. If you are running the original MagSafe 1 T charger, and a MacBook that was incompatible with that update, you are running some fairly old hardware, with a very damaged power chord. 

 

If you actually take good care of them, they don't fray enough to spark. Taking care of them, like any electric cable, means using electric tape to patch up any parts that may spark. 

 

It's all well and good to go after a company that causes you harm, but its hard to have sympathy when you should have covered this yourself. Time to recover and move on. 

[Canada EH]

I smell some easy money!

[Jurrunio]

Come out 47 I know you did that

[MandoPanda]

There are no details in the article. It's like two paragraphs.

[williamcll]

I kind of like magsafe.

[MandoPanda]

13 minutes ago, williamcll said:

I kind of like magsafe.

There's nothing wrong with liking magsafe... unless you also like DEATH

[D13H4RD]

Meanwhile, I modified my Lightning cable to stop it from fraying. 

[MandoPanda]

2 minutes ago, D13H4RD said:

Meanwhile, I modified my Lightning cable to stop it from fraying. 

Pics or didn't happen.

[D13H4RD]

1 minute ago, MandoPanda said:

Pics or didn't happen.

What I did was basically put something on the portion of the cable where it meets the connector

 

The purpose is to stop it from flexing to the point where the insulation could split from the connector and fray. 

[mr moose]

6 hours ago, Enderman said:

So was it actually the magsafe that caused the spark or was it the damaged cable?

Because those are two completely different things.

The latter is the fault of the user.

Those soft cables would deteriorate just from the sweat of your hands. Many of them fall apart through no fault of the user.

[Fnige]

THIS GIRL IS ON FIIIIIIRRRRRREE

THIS GIRL IS ON FIIIIIIRRRRRREE

HER CHARGER ON FIIIIIIRRRRRREE

This girl is on fire

 

[DeScruff]

I always liked the Magsafe connector it's self. Always handy to not cause your laptop to fly off the table cause your pet is dragging the cord with their hind legs.
It really needed a more durable cable though... Cause I swear those things frayed way to often.

[RejZoR]

I may dislike Apple for many things, but cables don't just spark for no reason or all by itself, especially not at low voltages they go through the cables (which is usually 5V since I know Apple doesn't use high voltage fast charging on those). I know electricity and cables that much.

 

I've also seen what kind of wrecked mess people continue to use. Cables frayed so badly I'm scared t even touch them, but people happily continue to use them because when they plug them in, they still charge the phone. That's the state of how people are. And then shit happens and they go on and blame the company.

 

They may sue Apple, but I'm pretty sure forensics will find out that cable was damaged and user continued to use it regardless. When that happens, it's totally out of Apple's control really. You can't safeguard users from their own stupidity in every single case. You can only do as much.

[BuckGup]

16 hours ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

I guess it's a good thing Apple switched from MagSafe...

 

The only really nice thing about those cables anyway was that they didn't put up a fight coming out of the port, which helped reduce damage.

USB type C charging is more prone to the issue above. Mag safe was such a better way to charge. The physical plug was much smaller so it was less prone to being bent like this and fraying the cabled

[mynameisjuan]

3 minutes ago, BuckGup said:

USB type C charging is more prone to the issue above. Mag safe was such a better way to charge. The physical plug was much smaller so it was less prone to being bent like this and fraying the cabled

Proof that C is more prone? Simple plate contacts and the nature of magnetic connector, there is a much greater chance of a magsafe from sparking than a type C. 

 

The size of the plug has little to do with fraying. Cable quality and good shielding/support (whatever that is called at the neck) determines how much itll fray. 

[BuckGup]

41 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

Proof that C is more prone? Simple plate contacts and the nature of magnetic connector, there is a much greater chance of a magsafe from sparking than a type C. 

 

The size of the plug has little to do with fraying. Cable quality and good shielding/support (whatever that is called at the neck) determines how much itll fray. 

For one thing the cable above is about 3 generations old and came out when magsafe was announced. The new magsafe on airs and pros had more robust connector support for the cable. The old ones had a crease point and it would pull the rubber out of the housing. 

https://www.wired.com/2015/03/magsafe-power-adapter-safer-usb-c/

USB type C sticks out much greater so unless the charging cable is directly straight you are going to have more of an angle and force on the port and cable itself

[Jito463]

On 1/11/2019 at 1:24 AM, RejZoR said:

You can't safeguard users from their own stupidity

I work in computer repair, I can confirm that people (not just Mac users) have many times brought in chargers that I wouldn't risk plugging in, much less charging a laptop with.

 

As for the Magsafe connection, I like the idea in principle.  In fact, I actually bought a magnetic release micro-USB cable for my cell phone to charge with (I actually bought two, and keep the second cable at work).  As usual though, Apple's implementation left something to be desired.  They get too overly concerned with appearance and noise, and end up ignoring basic design faults in the process.

 

One of the most egregious examples I like to point out was the Power Mac G4 Cube from the early 2000's.  The whole thing was just a tiny cube that they put absolutely zero fans in, so as to avoid the noise (ironically enough, when I worked for CompUSA back then, we had one customer return three of them for "excessive noise" ).  However, the computer lacked a physical power button and had a sensor instead.  Those sensors were prone to burning out and preventing the computer from powering on, all because Apple didn't want the noise from a fan inside the machine.