The controversy surrounding the MacBook Pro’s keyboard design isn’t going away anytime soon. Earlier this week, Apple was hit with a second class-action suit (via AppleInsider) claiming that the butterfly-switch keyboard design on the MacBook Pro is defective and prone to failure. What’s more, the new complaint alleges that Apple’s marketing claims about the keyboard are patently false and misleading.
The complaint, not surprisingly, brings up many of the allegations addressed in the first class-action lawsuit which was filed just a few weeks ago. For instance, the suit claims that keys on the MacBook Pro keyboard become inoperable if even the tiniest piece of dust happens to get lodged underneath it. Hardly a revelation, there have been a number of angry testimonials from MacBook Pro owners lamenting purchasing a pricey notebook only to find that the keyboard itself doesn’t work properly.
“The Laptops’ defect is substantially certain to manfiest,” the complaint reads. “Thousands of consumers have reported sticking or non-responsive keys on their Laptops. Complaints about the butterfly keyboard are prevalent, and include blog posts, tweets, support-forum comments, a Change.org petition, and even a satirical song and video.”
Incidentally, the aforementioned Change.org petition now boasts more than 27,000 signatures.
“Despite its awareness of the defect,” the complaint adds, “Defendant has advertised and continues to advertise the Laptops as having a superior and highly responsive keyboard, with ‘four times more key stability than a traditional scissor mechanism.’ These representations were false and misleading.”
Apple hasn’t yet formally addressed any of the complaints surrounding the MacBook Pro keyboard design, save for a support doc on its website detailing the proper way to clean the device in the event of an unresponsive key.
