Santa Clara, CA: Following the recent death of two young girls in Harrisberg, PA, federal officials have re-issued warnings concerning the safety of massively popular self-propelled “hoverboards.” The children died from burns suffered after their house caught fire likely from a defective hoverboard that exploded while being charged.
A federal investigation has been launched to look into the deaths.
These are not the first incidents of exploding hoverboards. The problem is so widespread that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a massive recall of the devices in July 2016. The problem lies with lithium-ion battery packs in the self-balancing scooters/hoverboards, which can overheat, posing a risk of the products smoking, catching fire and/or exploding, the CPSC website states.
The 2016 CPSC hoverboard recall involved more than 500,000 hoverboards made by 10 retailers. The agency warned that the products did not meet federal fire safety standards. The recall stated that at that time there had been at least 99 incident reports of the battery packs in self-balancing scooters/hoverboards overheating, sparking, smoking, catching fire and/or exploding including reports of burn injuries and property damage. An agency spokesperson said the CPSC has investigated more than 60 hoverboard fires since the fall of 2015.
The recall involved the biggest hoverboard brands on the market, specifically Swagway (the Swagway X1 model), the Hovertrax from Razor, the Airwalk Self Balancing Electric Scooter, the iMoto, the Hype Roam, the Wheeli, 2Wheelz, Back to the Future, Mobile Tech, Hover Shark, NWS, X Glider and X Rider.
At the same time, Overstock.com issued a recall for all hoverboards sold on its website, roughly 4,300 units. Similarly, Boscov's, a retailer based in Reading, Pennsylvania, recalled 1,300 Orbit hoverboards.
