Not surprisingly, following on the heels of various accounts and reports of fires caused by hoverboards, ten manufacturers, distributors and retailers have issued an official recall of 501,000 hoverboards in the United States coordinated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
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UL Issues First Safety Certification for Hoverboards
On May 10, 2016, Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL), the global safety science organization, announced that it issued the first safety certification to the UL 2272 safety requirements for electrical systems of self-balancing scooters (aka hoverboards), which was launched in February 2016. After completing a construction evaluation, safety testing and complying with UL 2272’s marking, labeling and user instruction requirements, a hoverboard manufactured by Ninebot (parent company of Segway) has been found to meet all the requirements. UL reminds consumers that the UL 2272 certification does not address riding safety and that proper safety precautions should be taken when using self-balancing scooters.
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Hoverboards Under Attack
Multiple UK retailers have asked customers to throw out their hoverboards, the self-balancing scooters that have clambered onto holiday wish lists this season, due to suspected safety issues with the devices. The retailers and the UK’s Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) have said the UK hoverboards were deemed unsafe due to a noncompliant plug for electrical outlets and other parts. This comes at the same time that thousands of these items have been halted at the UK border due to the government’s safety concerns.
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