SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Overheating

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20200430-22C37-2147372634. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Surface Pro 4 (Internal battery for the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 computer.). Incident: My Microsoft Surface Pro 4 started showing a light brownish/yellowish tinge on the left side of the screen in mid-March 2020. Believing it had something to do with the Surface Pen which is magnetically mounted in approximately the same area, I removed the pen. I noticed the screen issue getting worse over the next couple of weeks, and then noticed the screen itself beginning to bulge from its fame as well as increased heat while the computer was on. I started looking for a solution on the Microsoft Support site to see if anyone else had sought input for the problem. It turns out that a number of people have posted in the Microsoft Community pages regarding a bulging battery. Same model, same issues, with a concern about overheating and possible battery explosion. It seems various offers have been made by Microsoft, none of which really address what appears to be a design/production issue. They offer either a refurbed model, or an upgraded model, often for a fee of several hundred dollars, although it seems a few people have not had to pay anything for a replacement. In my case, I called their support team, and was offered a similar model for $450. I responded that I didn't think I wanted to give them more money for a unit which may eventually have the same issues. (I've since chosen to purchase a different computer from another company.) My Surface unit was used approximately every other day and on weekends as my personal computer. It was not an everyday work computer, so never saw continued heavy usage. Here's a link to the Microsoft Community where the Surface Pro 4 batte