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Apple Settles Power Adapter Suit

Apple Settles Power Adapter Suit

by , 9:05 AM EDT, May 9th, 2008

Apple may have finally resolved a 2006 class action law suit that alleged the company misrepresented sparking issues some of its iBook and PowerBook power adapters exhibited. The company agreed to pay qualifying Mac owners between US$25 and $79, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Estimates put the number of potentially qualifying Mac owners in the neighborhood of 2.3 million. The agreement earned preliminary approval in the San Jose U.S. District Court on March 24, but is awaiting final approval on September 8.

The class action suit claimed that the laptop power adapter "dangerously frays, sparks and prematurely fails to work." Apple issued a recall for about 570,000 adapters in 2001 and offered free replacements after receiving reports of overheating issues.

Once the final settlement is approved, Apple will offer cash payments to qualifying customers that purchased Apple-branded or third party power adapters to replace faulty units.

Observer Comments

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Close Name:Guest
Fri May 09, 2008 10:44 am Subject: This problem still exists.

Every apple laptop I have owned plus my apple tv all spark whenever I plug them in. From a G3 iBook to a brand new intel macbook.


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Close Name:mahuti -   TMO Staff Posts: 377 Joined: 09 Jan 2003
Fri May 09, 2008 12:25 pm Subject: You mean at the plug end?

You mean at the wall plug end? If so, your outlet might not be grounded.


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Close Name:Guest
Fri May 09, 2008 8:15 pm Subject: Frayed wires; metal fatigue.

fiatmacadam sez:

Heh. Yet another example of not knowing when to quit tweaking the product. Apple decided to make adapters with transparent cables.

This would generally be the iBook and Titanium G4 saucer adapters with tranparent insulation on the cable to the wall and the cable to the a/c jack.

I have seen both ends spark on heavily used (physically thrashed) adapters.

I would worry more about the cable that plugs into the wall; this could a real fire hazard. On the other hand, if Apple had made the cables opaque, this issue probably wouldn't have surfaced.....


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Close Name:Guest
Fri May 09, 2008 11:15 pm Subject:

"You mean at the wall plug end? If so, your outlet might not be grounded."

When if you aren't using the adaptor's extension cord and are just plugging it in directly using the little folding two-prong attachment, there is no ground conductor. So whether your outlet is grounded becomes irrelevant. That's when mine sparks, when I'm using that two-prong attachment. Yet as far as I can tell I'm not included in this settlement because mine was an original adaptor, not a replacement.


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