Hoverboard Product Liability

December 18, 2015

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Hoverboard Product Liability 

Hoverboards are here and they may take over the world of transportation!

Okay they aren’t going to take over transportation but they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

In fact, On Cyber Monday, eBay sold one every 12 seconds, and parents are desperate to fill their children’s holiday wish list.

Love them or hate them, hoverboards are no longer a thing of the future although they may seem foreign and a little dangerous to some of us…

And we aren’t the only ones thinking these joy rides may be a little risky…wobbly at best…

The seemingly easy ride can be anything but, raising concerns over ride-related injuries – from falling off at high speeds to the board itself allegedly exploding in flames, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller…

Ummm flames?!

In Louisiana, a house allegedly caught on fire after the owner plugged in their days-old device purchased online.

“It was like a firework, like you just lit a firework,” said the homeowner, Jessica Horne. “I saw sparks flying. And before I could yell, the house was on fire.”

Rilwan Hassan is a franchise owner of IO Moonwalkers, a retailer of high-end hoverboards that sell for nearly $1,600…

He says a lot of the products out there are cheaply made counterfeits and consumers get what they pay for…Fires…

A board that was brought into Hassan and his team revealed a lot of duct tape, loose screws, and some key missing parts, hence why it broke in half…

The cheap knock-offs and terrible and dangerous quality of some of these hoverboards has raised some serious concerns for both consumers and for the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

In the last three months, the Commission has received eight reports of emergency room visits related to hoverboards, none from fires…

EEK!

But hoverboards are an unregulated product, meaning there are no national standards for all the different brands sold to consumers, according to Sean Kane with the Safety Institute.

“What’s the difference? What are the design practices? What are the standards? What is the testing that’s being done? And the answer is nobody knows because there aren’t any requirements they have to meet,” Kane said.

Safety experts emphasize hoverboards are not toys and can move at speeds where you can sustain serious injuries if you fall off.

They encourage people to wear helmets, knee and elbow pads, and most importantly, to report any problems with your device to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Folks if you are hovering about, stay safe and alert – just like driving a car! If you are thinking about getting a hoverboard, do your research and get a high-quality machine that can keep you safe and just slightly off the ground!