People who purchased hoverboards during the last two months are in danger of the devices catching fire or may explode. More than 500,000 pieces of the self-balancing two-wheeled board from ten companies are being recalled due to defects in their battery packs.
Incident Reports
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned users that hoverboards affected by the recall have high possibilities of bursting into flames. This is because their poorly-designed lithium battery packs are prone to overheating, USA Today reported.
At least 99 incident reports involved hoverboards bursting into flames or exploding. The incidents gave way to more than $2 million in property damage.
Major hoverboard manufacturers such as Razor, Hype Wireless, Digital Gadgets, and Swagway are now offering refunds, repairs, or replacement based on their product's model. The full list of hoverboard brands being recalled can be viewed on the Commission's website.
News reports about hoverboards catching fire and exploding first surfaced in 2015. The device's lithium batteries are safe when handled accurately. It becomes unsafe when multiple batteries are connected together in haphazard methods, which is sometimes the case with hoverboards.
There are claims that cheap and generic hoverboards sold on eBay and Alibaba are more prone to combustion and explosion. But the commission has decided to inspect hoverboards across all brands to ensure safety and to understand why the incidents keep happening. For the time being, experts advised users to avoid charging hoverboards overnight or when you're not at home.
Buy UL-Certified Hoverboards
If you still wish to buy and ride hoverboards, the commission advised purchasing those certified by UL, or Underwriters Laboratories, which determines plenty of consumer products' safety standards. However, UL only issued those safety standards in February and by that time millions of hoverboards are already bought by consumers.
U.S. airlines, railroads, and college campuses have banned hoverboards due to the device's safety risks, the New York Times noted. Among the 60 airlines that have banned hoverboards are British Airways, Japan Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin Australia, and American Airlines, Fusion listed.
The dangers of hoverboards aren't just present within the device itself. There are reports of people getting struck by vehicles while riding a hoverboard in the street or near traffic, CNET wrote.
Users are advised to wear protective gear while riding hoverboards to lower the chances of sprains, fractures, and bruises if you fall off. All hoverboards don't exceed the maximum speed of 10 mph, so users can avoid severe injuries if they fall while it's moving. Hoverboards also have minimum and maximum weight limits, and majority won't operate when climbing or descending steep hills.
