Future Motion, the maker of the Onewheel electric skateboard, is recalling 300.000 skates due to four accidents that claimed the lives of four riders. He is asking owners of the old models to throw them away
Future Motion, maker of the Onewheel electric skateboard, is recalling 300.000 Onewheel self-balancing skates found in USA. Prompted by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the company is trying to fix its products after four rider deaths between 2019 and 2021.
The company had disputed previous CPSC recall warnings and claimed it had tested and found nothing wrong with the Onewheels. At the time, the company issued a press release objecting to the CPSC and calling its statements services "unwarranted and alarming".
Now Future Motion is proceeding with a voluntary recall which normally he should have done almost a year earlier. The company is asking owners to stop using their Onewheels until they take appropriate action. The recommended solution for the newer Onewheel GT, Onewheel Pint X, Onewheel Pint and Onewheel Plus XR models is to update software with a new warning system.
However, for early models, original Onewheel and Onewheel Plus the company is telling owners to stop using and to throw them away !!!.
The accidents occurred due to Onewheel skateboards malfunctioning after being pushed to certain limits. Onewheel GT, Onewheel Pint X, Onewheel Pint and Onewheel Plus XR will receive a firmware update that will add a new “Haptic Buzz” warning feature that riders can feel and hear when the vehicle enters error mode, has a low battery , or is approaching its limits and must slow down.
"This update is the culmination of many months of collaboration with the CPSC," the company's website says. To install the update, owners need to connect their Onewheels to the companion app and perform a firmware update.
The first skates, however, cannot be done upgrade and so owners residing in the US will receive a "proportionate $100 credit toward the purchase of a new board." Credit will only be issued after owners confirm they have disposed of the old model.
