Battery warping problem - is there a recall programme to fix this?

Question

My Macbook Pro has the serial number W87181N**, which I can't see featuring on any recalls. I bought it in late 2007. It has the warping problem discussed here - I had the touchpad stop working with the button seeming to be clicked down permanently. I removed the battery and the problem went away, and the battery is visibly warped.
This does look to me like a defect of manufacture - particularly as it seems a common problem. What do I need to do to get a free replacement from my local Apple repair centre?
<Edited by Host>

Answer 1

Congrats on getting a new battery. This is "generally" what Apple does in these situations. I tend to agree with you, but they have in some cases not replaced batteries. A two year old battery is well beyond the general one year warranty period. Apple provides a one year warranty. Chances are... if anything fails shortly after that and you have always been careful, it is due to the component failing. You could argue that just about any failure that isn't due to the fault of the user would be a manufacturing defect. Apple provides the option for you to extend your warranty by purchasing AppleCare for just these types of situations. They basically have to make a cut off point someplace. Otherwise, people could come in with a four year old battery and say it failed due to a defect. Expanding batteries is definitely a problem Apple is aware of... hence their decision to extend the warranty... and provide coverage many times even further than two years. Although, in reality, a swollen battery after two years could be considered the same as a hard drive failure... a memory failure... or just about any other failure. It's basically a component failure outside of warranty. Apple has just chosen what really amounts to "doing the right thing".