Number of fires and falls involving the product causing safety concerns.
Numerous reports of hoverboards catching fire while charging have prompted Amazon to pull many of the brands from its online sales site, as reported on bestreviews.com.
An article on The Verge says that the company sent out a message to all hoverboard sellers to “provide documentation demonstrating that all hoverboards you list are compliant with applicable safety standards, including UN 38.3 (battery), UL 1643 (battery), and UL 60956-1 (charger).”
Hoverboard seller Swagway provided The Verge with a statement containing the notice from Amazon, and adds the company already meets all those certifications and is glad to see Amazon is weeding out lower quality boards.
Swagway said they were working on ways to assist customers in identifying authentic Swagway boards, and warned that many imitation boards are adding the Swagway logo to unauthorized boards. The company recommended that customers purchase boards from authorized retailers only, as a precaution.
The article continues, saying there have been at least 10 reports of fires in nine states related to hoverboards, and the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is investigating the problems.
Earlier this week, most major airlines announced they would not allow hoverboards on flights due to safety concerns and Overstock.com has stopped selling them on its site as well.
Apparently some boards are still listed on Amazon, but many brands have been removed, according to the article. It is not clear why some brands are still on the site, but the article mentions that models from Razor and Jetson were still available at the time of the article.
Patty Davis of the CPSC said earlier this week the agency was investigating reports of fires in Ohio, Louisiana, Alabama, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York, and Washington, and they are taking the issue very seriously.
Davis adds the CPSC knows how popular the product is and they understood that a lot of consumers wanted to give the product as Christmas gifts this year. She also said they were looking at the entire product line and were working across the country to move the investigation as quickly as possible.
The Commission cited 29 fall-related injuries concerning hoverboards as well, including fractures, sprains and abrasions.
Wanda B. Hewlett
Wanda B. Hewlett (Contributor) is a freelance writer from the UK. When she’s not busy writing she loves to spend her time traveling, exploring and running.