The Consumer Product Safety Commission recall is a long time coming after the agency launched an investigation around last Christmas amid numerous reports of fires.
Advertisement
The agency said it has received at least 99 incident reports about the battery problems to date, including complaints about burn injuries and property damage.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says owners should stop using any of the recalled hoverboards.
The CPSC is recalling the product due to the lithium-ion battery pack it uses, which can overheat pretty easily and can explode or randomly catch fire. The hoverboards were sold in various colors and do not have any brand labels on them.
In one incident, a $1 million home in Nashville was completely destroyed by a fire, with two teens barely escaping.
In the USA, the half a million China-made models recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission included six different brands, though the Swagway X1 was subject to the largest recall, with 267,000 models recalled. The recall, as anyone familiar with these hoverboard devices will guess, is over potential fire risk.
While lithium batteries are generally safe when manufactured and handled properly, hoverboard designs often featured multiple batteries linked together in unsafe ways.
More than 500,000 hoverboards are being recalled after some of the motorized scooters overheated, burned riders and damaged property. Customers are being told to contact the manufacturer for a full refund, replacement or fix.
People have been burned by them, and it’s caused property damage – including burning houses down and almost killing people.
Advertisement
Especially the Swagway X1 model, that was sold at Amazon.com, Target, and large retailers. “They were made and sold without a safety standard in place”. “Removing these hoverboards from the market is a critical step in preventing future injuries”, said Klobuchar in the release. But in the last few months, they have been removed from retailers and faced bans in some cities.
