Apple faced with lawsuit over faulty keyboards

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is facing a lawsuit over an allegedly flawed design in MacBook and MacBook Pro keyboards.

A petition with over 22,000 signatures is calling on the tech giant to recall the Mac laptop models released since late 2016  claiming the group were aware of the defect at or before the launch.

“Because of the new keyboard design, consumers report that fixing affected keys requires replacing the whole keyboard, which costs $700,” said Girard Gibbs, counsel for the plaintiffs.

“Because typing is the primary purpose of laptops, over time, consumers have become more and more frustrated with the keyboard defect,” he added.

According to the filing, thousands of Macbook users have experienced a defect with the product’s butterfly keyboard. The butterfly keyboard is used in Apple products as opposed to the older “scissor” mechanism.

“Apple’s butterfly keyboard and MacBook are produced and assembled in such a way that when minimal amounts of dust or debris accumulate under or around a key, keystrokes fail to register.”

In many cases the keyboard renders faulty and does not respond, forcing users to take their laptops for warranty which can cost hundreds of pounds.

“Although every MacBook comes with a one-year written warranty, Apple routinely refuses to honor its warranty obligations. Instead of fixing the keyboard problems, Apple advises MacBook owners to try self-help remedies that it knows will not result in a permanent repair,” the lawsuit added.

“When Apple does agree to attempt a warranty repair, the repair is only temporary—a purportedly repaired MacBook fails again from the same keyboard problems. For consumers outside of the warranty period, Apple denies warranty service, and directs consumers to engage in paid repairs, which cost between $400 and $700. The keyboard defect in the MacBook is substantially certain to manifest.”

“Apple has failed to disclose that the keyboard is defective, and this information would have been important to Plaintiffs’ decision to purchase a MacBook,” the lawsuit argues.

The group has released has a guide on how to clean a MacBook or MacBook Pro keyboard, however further treatment requires a technician.