Hoverboards that do not meet new safety standards are now subject to seizure or recall, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Friday.
The federal agency sent a letter to manufacturers, importers and retailers on Thursday stating that the self-balancing scooters must comply with standards and requirements issued by a safety consulting company, Underwriters Laboratory (UL).
No hoverboards are currently certified by UL, according to spokesperson Brooke Higginbotham.
Robert Howell, director of CPSC’s office of compliance and field operations, issued the letter, and said that scooters not in accordance with the guidelines “pose an unreasonable risk of fire to consumers”.
“Consumers risk serious injury or death if their self-balancing scooters ignite and burn,” the letter stated.
Between 1 December 2015 and 17 February 2016, the CPSC received reports from consumers in 24 states, of 52 self-balancing scooter fires. The fires resulted in $2m in property damage, according to the letter, including “the destruction of two homes and an automobile”.
Last year online retailer Amazon stopped selling hoverboards over fire concerns, and reportedly asked manufacturers to provide documentation of safety precautions.
Hoverboards that do not meet the new safety standards will be deemed “defective”, according to the letter.
“In addition, if we encounter such products domestically, we may seek a recall of these products,” the agency added.
The CPSC also released a video of their own hoverboard testing, in which they state they are “actively investigating hoverboard falls and fires” as their “engineers and scientists are testing new and damaged hoverboards at the agency’s lab”, in Rockville, Maryland. According to the video, they are focusing on “the components of the hoverboards’ lithium-ion battery packs and their interaction with the circuit boards inside the unit”.
“This is us drawing a line in the sand and a notice for the entire hoverboard community,” Elliot Kaye, the chairman of the CPSC, told Mashable.
“From our perspective, a smart retailer will put in place a stop sale to find out if their inventory complies with the UL standard. If they are certain that it doesn’t, they should then issue a recall proposal.”
