All Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards have been recalled worldwide after at least four deaths and several injuries were reported among people riding them.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has recalled 300,000 skateboards sold in America, warning they can stop balancing a rider if the boards’ limits are exceeded, risking serious crashes.
Future Motion, the US-based manufacturer of Onewheel, has received dozens of incident reports involving the boards, the CPSC said.
They include four deaths between 2019 and 2021 and serious injuries such as “traumatic brain injury, concussion, paralysis, upper-body fractures, lower-body fractures and ligament damage”.
The CPSC said the deaths resulted from head trauma, and in at least three of the cases the riders were not wearing helmets.
Future Motion said it strongly encourages “all riders to always wear a helmet and other protective gear while riding”.
Pic: AP
The CPSC said people who own a Onewheel electric skateboard should stop using it immediately.
The watchdog and manufacturer said customers could receive a refund of $100 (£83) in-store credit after disposing of the product.
The recall affects all of the electric boards – including Onewheel, Onewheel+, Onewheel+ XR, Onewheel Pint, Onewheel Pint X and Onewheel GT – sold online and through independent retailers from January 2014 to September this year.
A new safety alert feature to address the crash hazard called “haptic buzz” will be available through a firmware update for Onewheel GT, Pint X, Pint and XR boards in the coming weeks, Future Motion’s Onewheel team said.
Riders can check their board’s eligibility and learn more about installing the update with Onewheel’s app on Future Motion’s website.
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“You should not use Onewheels that are not updated or that are not eligible for the firmware update,” the Onewheel team wrote on its website, while also urging all riders to wear helmets and other protective gear.
It added: “Rider safety is our top priority and is critical to the long-term success of the sport.”
The CPSC had warned consumers to stop using Onewheel electric skateboards last November, pointing to reports of death and serious injuries, but at the time the CPSC said Future Motion “refused to agree to an acceptable recall of the product”.
In its announcement, Future Motion’s Onewheel team said the recall update was “the culmination of months of work with the CPSC”.
Sky News has contacted Future Motion for comment.