The government agency charged with protecting American consumers has found hoverboards to be unsafe.
In a notice sent out this week, the Consumer Product Safety Commission urged manufacturers, importers, and retailers of the motorized two-wheel, self-balancing scooters to avoid selling any hoverboard products that do not meet “applicable voluntary safety standards.”
The agency questions the standards by which the electronics that make up the scooters are reviewed, as well as the lithium ion battery that powers each device.
#hoverboards Makers, importers and retailers put on notice https://t.co/UEvHCBxSf5 pic.twitter.com/jfG9kIiovC
— US Consumer Product Safety Commission (@USCPSC) February 19, 2016
“Self-balancing scooters that do not meet these voluntary safety standards pose an unreasonable risk of fire to consumers. Consumers risk serious injury or death if their self-balancing scooters ignite and burn,” wrote Robert Howell, acting director of the CSPC Office of Compliance and Field Operations.
From Dec. 1, 2015 to Feb. 17, the agency said it received reports from consumers in 24 states of 52 hoverboard fires resulting in over $2 million in property damage, including the destruction of two homes and a car.
The warning by the agency was first reported by Mashable.
Hoverboards were a popular gift this past holiday season. E-commerce company eBay reported in December that nearly 7,500 hoverboards were sold on Cyber Monday, or one every 12 seconds.
Also in December, Florida Congressman Carlos Curbelo tweeted a picture of himself wearing a sling, which he wrote was due to an injury that he received falling off his daughter’s hoverboard.
