MBP TouchBar Left Shift Key Failure

[mshcherb]

Something weird just happened a couple of hours ago. I was going about my day, working on my MBP (13" TB) when I realized that my left shift key wouldn't work. It's been several hours (I'm aware of the 'sticky' key issue on these machines that seems to correct itself) but nothing's happening. The shift key only works occasionally if I press it EXTRA hard. I have been very careful not to spill anything on they keyboard, so this came out of nowhere... any ideas?

 

[ZapNZs]

Do not continue pressing extra hard! It is possible that a foreign particle is lodged under the keyboard, and the action of pressing even harder appears to sometimes make the issue worse. The best thing you can do at this point is to try to clean the unit with canned air. If this does not work, the machine is likely suffering from a keyboard failure and will need to be serviced, unfortunately, as this sort of issue with the newer keyboard design is not uncommon.

 

[mshcherb]

So a quick update on this. I bought canned air and followed Apple's instructions – twice. The key didn't get any better. What I found is that it seems to work better when I press right onto the center of the key rather than closer to the edge – however, that feels off, because it used to be very responsive no matter where I pressed. Vacuuming the keyboard on a very low setting didn't work either. Looks like my baby's gonna have to take a trip the store and I'm not a fan of the idea as I have a thesis to write. Kind of disappointed with Apple right now... these keyboards look better than they work, unfortunately.

 

[Naimfan]

Do you have a 2016 or 2017? There are a number of anecdotal reports that the 2017s are better, and there do not appear to be as many reports of keyboard issues with the 2017 models.

You may need to have the keyboard replaced - I've had it done twice already, and am now waiting on a call from Apple Engineering to try to figure out what's happening.

All the more frustrating because the keyboard and trackpad aside, it's a good machine.