Apple sued over iPhone's liquid sensors
A class action lawsuit against Apple is alleging that the company relies on a faulty technology in its iPhones and iPods to determine whether a device has been exposed to liquid and can be repaired under warranty.
Filed in the Northern District of California by Charlene Gallion on April 15, the class action lawsuit claims that the Liquid Submersion Indicators technology that Apple uses is inaccurate, which could lead to false positive results.
The Liquid Submersion Indicators are triggered when liquid has entered the device. The indicators are located in the headphone jack and in the dock connector housing of the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.
If an iPhone or iPod Touch is taken into Apple for warranty work and the Liquid Submersion Indicators have been triggered, Apple can refuse to fix the device under warranty. Obviously, false positive triggers under this circumstance would not be beneficial to consumers.
According to Gallion, this is exactly what happened to her. Her iPhone--purchased in 2008--stopped working properly in March 2009. She contacted Apple about getting it repaired or replaced under the device's standard warranty, but was told that the Liquid Submersion Indicator had been triggered. Subsequently, she was not entitled to a repair or replacement under warranty.
According to the lawsuit, Gallion did purchase a discounted iPhone 3G from Apple to replace her broken device. Six months later, that phone stopped working too. Apple again told her that the Liquid Submersion Indicators had been triggered.
Apple says the technology is designed so it won't be triggered by humidity or temperature changes, but the lawsuit claims independent testing proves otherwise.
The lawsuit says that the Liquid Submersion Indicators can be triggered by cold weather and humidity, both of which are within Apple's operating standards. The suit claims that other types of moisture like sweat during a workout can also trigger the indicators. Problems with sweat causing some devices to stop functioning have been reported.
An Apple representative declined to comment on pending litigation.
Apple is being sued for, among other things, breach of warranty, fraud, and unfair business practices. The lawsuit is asking for an unspecified amount of damages, as well as all costs associated with the class action suit.
The other cases, where something else is triggering the sensor is a different story.
Anyway, I've brought iPhones in for repair, and they always check the sensors and they haven't been triggered. These phones have been subjected to sweaty and cold environments (inside a ski jacket for 3 days), high florida humidity in summer, and everything in between.
It's not common these sensors fail, and if it fails twice for the same person, one has to wonder how truthful she's being...
From MY experience, YOU'VE been the lucky one... not having sensors tripped after owning the phone for 6 months is very lucky.
for example, my phone hasn't been subjected to anything like yours... and yet both sensors are tripped.
unless you want to call me a liar too. but i'm not.
If I can submerge a device in water let it dry and it still work then a bead of sweat should not kill a device but it can trigger a sensor.
Also isn't a big use of iPod's is for running and work outs am I wrong?
Mind you, I find this true of all cell phones. What's the point of making cell phones so small if I have to put into case that doubles its size just so it doesn't break in the first 6 months? Oh wait, because then your service provider will sell you a "discounted" version, if only you extend your contract another 6 months.
This happened to my daughter -- $200 for a new phone although she never got hers wet.
1. Settings
2. General
3. Reset?
4. Reset Network Settings
I am still using the same iPhone today, unrepaired with a broken silence button. Clearly the bottom sensor is bogus due to its location and I will be moving to an android phone in a few months after my contract is up.
As cometman said above... "If there's a design flaw in the indicators, then it is actually likely that a person who experiences false positives will repeatedly experience false positives. They're going to be in the same environment."
This is all very true. A simpler example. My tires on my car are warrantied for say... 10k miles. Just for the sake of an easy number. If there is a problem with the batch causing them to lose tread by 5k miles in some cases, I, a person who drives on gravel roads often (which is harsher, but within warranty specs) and commutes 40+ miles a day on the highway, may experience this failure earlier and with greater likelihood than grandma who uses her tires to go grocery shopping once a week and accumulates her 10k miles over several years.
What it does say -- again, if I recall correctly -- is that any damage caused by a list of things, including moisture, is not covered.
Apple appears to have a policy that they will not cover any otherwise warrantied issue if the sensors are triggered. (At least, the first thing they do when I walk in with my iPhone is to check the sensors and declare that the warranty is void because they have been triggered.)
I will leave it to readers here to determine whether they think that a triggered sensor = damage CAUSED BY moisture. I, for one, do not, since a rain drop will trigger the sensor, regardless of whether it penetrates into the innards of the phone. I base this belief on the fact that my iPhone works fine almost 9 months after the moisture sensors were triggered. Clearly, whatever event triggered them has not caused any observable damage to my phone.
Read your warranty and don't assume that a sales clerk knows what your legal rights are. If in doubt, talk to a lawyer.
I realize that it is trendy and fashionable in certain circles to hate on Apple, and that some people believe being an Apple hater gives them some sort of counterculture street cred or something. But saying "Apple never takes responsibility" just makes you look uninformed.
- by Raabscuttle April 26, 2010 3:16 PM PDT
- It's a feature.
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