The Mac Observer

Skip navigational links

You're viewing an article in TMO's historic archive vault. Here, we've preserved the comments and how the site looked along with the article. Use this link to view the article on our current site:
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

Show: Subjects Only | Full Comments
Close Name:Guest
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.

Close Name:mahuti -   TMO Staff Posts: 377 Joined: 09 Jan 2003
Subject: You mean at the plug end?

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

Close Name:Guest
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.....

Close Name:Guest
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.

Comment on this Article


You cannot edit your comments.   You cannot delete your comments.

Comments are currently closed. Please email the author instead.


Recent Headlines - Updated November 22nd

Fri, 7:07 PM
Games - Soccer Sim Championship Manager 2010 Released for Mac
6:47 PM
Games - EA Publishes Original Monopoly for iPhone
6:15 PM
News - Original Apple I on Ebay for $50K, w/Letter from Steve Jobs
6:11 PM
Games - New iPhone Games: Secret of the Lost Cavern Ep 1, New DJ Nights, More
5:47 PM
Games - Star Trek D-A-C Game Headed to the Mac Next Month
4:57 PM
Product News - TidBITS Releases “Take Control of Syncing Data in Snow Leopard”
4:26 PM
John Martellaro's Blog - Particle Debris (week ending 11/20) Stationery Pads Go Poof
2:59 PM
Free on iTunes - Musée du Louvre, Art Lite, SketchBook Mobile X and More.
1:50 PM
Deal Brothers - Acer P215H bmid 21.5” Widescreen LCD Monitor:  $139.99
11:24 AM
TMO Appearances - Jeff Gamet Shares More Holiday Gift Ideas on MacJury
10:43 AM
Product News - Cocktail 4.5 for Leopard Adds QuickLook Cache Clearing
10:06 AM
News - Hack Enables Mac OS X 10.6.2 on Netbooks

The Mac Observer Reader Specials

  • __________
  • Buy Stuff, Support TMO!
  • Podcast: Mac Geek Gab
  • Podcast: Apple Weekly Report
  • TMO on Twitter!