I'm almost surprised that you had that few battery swelling incidents although I assume that in a corporate setting laptops tend to get refreshed before you're likely to have swollen batteries. I've had one myself in an Apple MacBook Pro but it was a pretty old model when that happened. (Also an older iPhone that was driving my stereo system when I went to replace it after doing an upgrade.)
I suspect there’s more swelling that we don’t hear about. Environment matters though. Phones and tablets with wide operating ranges (Samsung was rated for like 0-120 F) have higher failure rates outdoors than iPhones… but if you try to use iPhones in a hot parking lot in the summer or keep them in an outer pocket in the winter, they’ll shut down. (The device doesn’t break, but it fails for the user)
For laptops the target was 4 year replacement for most and 2 year for high performance. IIRC, there was a Dell model where the swelling and battery shape was such that the device was super wobbly and damaged that spiked the numbers. Most devices would just get tagged as a bad battery and repaired or replaced.
If I was still there or in that role, I’d collect more battery data in general, as it’s both an employee safety and perhaps a quantitative difference that can be leveraged in purchasing.
I guarantee there is. Device quits working, user doesn't know why, they discard it.
My only swelling incident so far was on a makeup mirror my wife owns. The battery is in a compartment whose door popped off due to the swelling. She asked me only when she couldn't get it to latch again. I looked at it and immediately told her not to plug it in.
Despite the fact that this thing cost hundreds of dollars, and they do sell some spare parts, the battery isn't one - and the battery leads are soldered directly to the circuit board. After some hunting around for a compatible battery (size was a major restriction), I bought it (~$15), cut the connector off, and soldered it to the board.
I tried emailing customer service; never got a reply.
Yeah, you know if a work laptop catches fire in someone's house, especially if there's appreciable damage much less worse, there's not only your concern for your employee's well-being but serious lawyers are going to get involved and your company is probably going to write a pretty large check to make it all go away.
Not lithium battery related but I recently had a built-in microwave control panel (apparently) decide to self-immolate at 4am. The fire department responded and I'm fine and the direct fire damage is relatively limited but smoke throughout house. The interior is emptied out, the interior is being redone to a significant degree, and this will be basically months of work and lots of money even given insurance. Wouldn't do wonders for my productivity over the rest of the year if I were still working full-time either.
Living out of hotel. Can't imagine the situation with young children and someone who can't write large checks even if they're partially reimbursed.
Samsung. About 15 years old but still shouldn't happen. "Funnily" enough as I vaguely recall, the competition was GE.
I'm getting countertop Panasonic 4-in-1. I'm getting rid of double ovens (the second of which I basically never used) in favor of a range, which will be induction in place than my prior propane cooktop.
