Swollen batteries and warranty

@A-Nickname i'm sorry to hear of the problems you are having with swollen batteries and associated plastics. Swollen batteries as they are shouldn't present any safety risk, however mishandling of them during removal could present a hazard.

I'll drop you a private message for some more details so I can see what I can do to help.

Alan

I have a Latitude E7240 PC which is used by me with a docking station. Recently when I took the PC off the docking station I noticed that the battery had swollen so much that cracks were beginning to be visible on battery cover. I immediately replaced the battery with a new one, I am now worried if the new battery will also end up with the same fate. What should I do the ensure that this does not happen?

The only thing you can do is replace the battery at the first sign of swelling.  Just about all batteries of this type will swell when they're at the end of their lives -- there is no longer a steel casing around the battery as there used to be, that prevents them from swelling when the electrolyte starts to break down as they age.

In the last 2 weeks I have had 5 laptops with expanded and cracked batteries - Model Dell Latitude 7440.  This is crazy and dangerous. 

The bigger question: why did you leave a swollen battery in the system long enough to cause this problem?

So let me get this right... It is MY FAULT that Dell puts batteries in their laptops that swell? Not exactly sure how you came to that conclusion but anyway. The laptop is used in a business environment and only comes to us for routine updates or repairs. Once the battery issue was detected we immediately took the battery out.

No, I'm not saying it was your fault - but long before the battery swells enough to be a safety hazard, there is warning the system needs repair -- just like long before your brake pads wear out completely, you're warned you need new ones.

Any puncture to a lithium battery can result in a fire - even to an intact one.  Swollen ones should be handled in a safe area, on a fireproof surface.

Dell is 100% responsible for these junk batteries. We have the same issue in our 7470s and 80's, and all are just over their useless 1 year battery warranty. The batteries we have are enclosed in the laptop--not removable (normally) and your average user may not notice the bulging. Dell better face the fact that their batteries are garbage and potentially dangerous, and they need across the board replacements issued.

interesting. 

we have lenovos that don't do this. 

and 50+ Panasonics that are over 5 years old--- ZERO battery issues NONE. 

and even in the defense of Dell, we have not had issues this bad.  ever.

face it-- they got a bad batch/design--and need to deal with it.

No, this is nothing like the Galaxy Note 7 issue - those batteries caught fire without any warning.

These do not. 

ALL of the pouch-cell (no case) lithium batteries will eventually swell at end of life.  Apple has had the most issues, perhaps not surprising since they were the first to use this battery type.  It occurs in all of them - search around and you'll see that these batteries swell in Macs, iPhones, iPads, Dells, Lenovos, HPs, Acers, ASUS systems - you name it.

If these are failing at just over a year, I'll bet the systems are run exclusively (or almost so) when plugged in.  This kills battery longevity.  And these WILL swell when they near end of life.  ALL of them.

If your company is using these batteries on AC all the time, start budgeting for replacements yearly - though they're thinner and lighter than yesterday's 18650 cells, they're nowhere near as robust - and yes, they do swell up.

Five years ago, very few systems used this battery type.  Apple did - few others. 

Business systems like Thinkpads and Latitudes were made with rigid-cased packs containing steel-enclosed 18650 batteries - the very same cells Tesla uses in the Model S and Model X, but among PC makers, only Lenovo still offers and then only in a couple of models.

You can't do thin and light with steel-cased batteries.  And you will not get the same experience out of a 2018 business system from Lenovo - or anyone else -- if it uses pouch-cell batteries.

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-Yoga-Series-Notebooks/Yoga-2-11-battery-swelling/td-p/3543598

This issue seems to be in the area of "Implied Warranties of Merchantability".