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Remember those stupid hoverboards? 500,000+ recalled in the US after they started exploding
This Wheel's On Fire
Vid Half a million hoverboard users should hotfoot it to the hardware's makers and get a replacement, lest they go up in flames.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission issued recall notices against 10 manufacturers and retailers for 501,300 self-balancing scooters aka hoverboards. The lithium-ion batteries powering the gizmos have shown a distressing tendency to overheat and explode, causing at least 99 serious injuries.
"We are urging consumers to act quickly," CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye told ABC News. "We've concluded pretty definitively that these are not safe products the way they were designed."
"This is a huge recall. It's the recall we've all been waiting for to address this product that as soon as it came on the market presented a pretty significant fire hazard, and continues to present a fall hazard."
Over half of the recalled boards are from one manufacturer – Swagway – whose X1 model has been involved in 42 cases of overheating batteries that caused burns to necks, legs, and arms, or severe property damage to 16 customers.
All of the recalled boards were sold in the US (with a few to Canada) from June 2015 through May 2016 and were priced between $350 and $900. All were manufactured in China.
The US isn't alone in being concerned about the safety of these devices. In March the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission banned more than 20 manufacturers' hoverboards over similar safety fears. ®
Biting the hand that feeds IT
