"Hoverboards," those ubiquitous, futuristic two-wheeled machines that don't actually hover, have been pulled and banned
by an increasing number of retailers, cities and airlines. Why?
Probably the growing safety concerns following a wave of recent media
showing hoverboards exploding.
The production of hoverboards — once deemed the hottest gift of the year by USA Today — has been difficult to regulate, prompting the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to further investigate them.
"The hoverboard does not fall into categories where there
are regulations," said president of Safety Research and Strategies,
Inc., Sean Kane, according to Business Insider. "The safety and fitness of them is really unknown."
Since September, about 20 people have been hospitalized from hoverboard-related incidents, according
to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. What often happens is sudden
combustion without explanation. A November explosion in Louisiana
involved a 12-year-old boy and his "Fit Turbo" board, bought from
Amazon; the accident set his entire home on fire, according to WGNO. Similar cases have occurred in malls and homes across the nation.
Online retailer Overstock announced
its pulling of hoverboard-like products from its digital shelves on
Dec. 9, offering refunds to those who have already purchased one.
Hoverboards should be powered by lithium-ion batteries, but many have been found to include counterfeits, ABC13 reported.
Inspectors in the U.K., where hoverboards are already illegal, examined
17,000 mostly Chinese-made hoverboards and confiscated 88% of them,
citing "noncompliant plugs without fuses" that can cause dangerous
overheating, according to the Verge.
Chinese manufacturers have been racing to produce knockoff versions of the popular toy for Western consumers, BuzzFeed reported.
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