The AirPods Pro lawsuit says Apple didn’t fix the crackling and ANC errors

Back in 2020, Apple admitted that some AirPods Pro units suffered from both crackling noises and errors in the Active Noise Cancellation feature. The company launched a recall program allowing customers to return their AirPods and have them replaced.

Apple said only models made before October 2020 were affected, but a new AirPods Pro lawsuit claims that’s not true – and says the company’s own actions confirm this…

Apple’s service program recognized both user-reported issues:

An affected AirPods Pro may exhibit one or more of the following behaviors:

– Cracking or static noises that increase in loud environments, during exertion or during a telephone conversation

– Active noise cancellation not working as expected, such as loss of bass or an increase in background noise, such as street or airplane noise

The company offered three ways to solve the problem:

However, a new class action lawsuit has been reported by ClassAction claims that Apple actually did not fix the problem in later versions of the same model.

However, the class action charges that the apparent audio defects affect all AirPods Pro Gen 1 headphones, regardless of their production date.

Although consumers began complaining about the audio issues with the AirPods Pro Gen 1 shortly after its release in October 2019 – and although Apple itself has admitted to the audio issues – the company continued to sell the devices for hundreds of dollars per pair until September. 2022, the case shares.

It says the service program was worthless because customers could only exchange one defective pair for another. It is said that close examination of the design and components before and after the cut-off date reveals no significant difference that would solve the problem.

“In other words, those users simply received another defective set of AirPods Pro Gen 1, with many users later also experiencing the audio defect with the defective replacement set,” the case said (…)

Regarding production date, the filing states that there is no significant difference between first-generation AirPods Pro devices made before or after October 2020, the date specifically noted on Apple’s support page.

The law firm claims that Apple was well aware of this and extended the program for another year.

Just two weeks before the scheduled October 31, 2021 end date for Apple’s AirPods Pro service program, which was announced a year earlier, the company updated this timeline to include affected AirPods for three years after the device’s initial retail sale cover, which essentially adds an additional year of warranty. coverage, the case relay.

However, it should be noted that it is not unusual for Apple to do this when issues continue to surface over a long period of time, so that owners who experience the problem later are still covered.

If this bothers you, you don’t need to do anything at this stage. If Apple offers a settlement, customers will be invited to file a claim.

Via Macworld.