Onewheel electric skateboards are recalled in the US after four deaths
All models of Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards have been recalled after reports of at least four deaths and multiple injuries, federal regulators have said.
The 300,000 monowheeled boards, manufactured by the California-based Future Motion, can stop balancing a rider correctly if certain limits are exceeded, which can create risk of serious crashes, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said.
Future Motion has received dozens of incident reports involving these skateboards in recent years, the CPSC said – including four deaths between 2019 and 2021 and serious injuries such as paralysis, traumatic brain injury, fractures and ligament damage.
The deaths resulted from head trauma, the CPSC added. In at least three of the reports, the riders were not wearing helmets.
People who own a Onewheel skateboard should stop using it immediately, regulators said. The recall affects all Onewheel electric skateboards – including Onewheel, Onewheel+, Onewheel+ XR, Onewheel Pint, Onewheel Pint X and Onewheel GT – sold online and through independent retailers from January 2014 to September this year.
To address the crash hazard, a safety alert feature called “haptic buzz” will be available through a firmware update for Onewheel GT, Pint X, Pint and XR boards in the coming weeks, Future Motion’s Onewheel team said. Riders can check their board’s eligibility and learn more about installing the update with Onewheel’s app on Future Motion’s website.
Original Onewheel and Onewheel+ boards are not eligible for the firmware update. Eligible riders can arrange to receive a refund in the form of $100 (£83) in-store credit after disposing of the product, the CPSC and Future Motion said.
“You should not use Onewheels that are not updated or that are not eligible for the firmware update,” Onewheel wrote on its website, while also urging all riders to wear helmets and other protective gear. “Rider safety is our top priority and is critical to the long-term success of the sport.”
The CPSC had warned people to stop using Onewheel electric skateboards in November – pointing to the reports of death and serious injuries. At the time, it said, Future Motion “refused to agree to an acceptable recall of the product”.
In its announcement, Future Motion’s Onewheel team said that the recall update was “the culmination of months of work with the CPSC”. The Associated Press approached Future Motion for further comment.