SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20200810-5BB2D-2147370585. Severity: Incident, No Injury. Product: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Surface Pro 4 (Microsoft Surface Pro 4, Intel I5-6300U CPU, 8GB RAM, 256 GB Solid State Drive.). Incident: The product is a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 tablet computer. I noticed what looked like burn marks on the left, right and bottom of the LCD screen and as I was adjusting the "kick stand" (a leg in the rear of the tablet that allows you to adjust the screen to varying angles for viewing) so that I could be sure it wasn't a reflection I felt and heard the kick stand scrape the rear of the tablet. Upon inspection I found that the rear panel of the tablet was swollen outwards and it was at this time I also noticed the tablet screen was swollen outwards. Upon research of this issue I came across numerous upon numerous complaints from other users of this tablet, the tablets issued before this one and the tablets issued after this one that have the same issue. The issue is that the lithium-ion are expanding. Microsoft support reported to me that "we" users should discontinue use of the tablet computer because of risk of fire and/or explosion, however, Microsoft's own document entitled "Caring for your Surface battery" say's and I quote "Battery expansion from deterioration does not present a safety concern and is most often caused by the formation of non-flammable carbon dioxide (CO2) gas.", the next sentence say's and I quote, " If you have a device where the battery has expanded visibly beyond the mechanical enclosure, we recommend you stop using the device. You should handle the device with caution to prevent putting pressure on or risk puncturing the battery cell. If you need assistance, contact us and work with a Surface Support Advocate." Since this battery is enclosed without