cross-posted from: https://feddit.ch/post/1377257

Future Motion, the maker of the Onewheel electric skateboard, is recalling every one of them, including 300,000 Onewheel self-balancing vehicles in the US. Alongside the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the company now seeks to remedy the products after four known death cases — three without a helmet — between 2019 and 2021.

The recall comes a year after Future Motion took issue with the CPSC’s calls for recall and claimed that it tested and found nothing wrong with the Onewheels. At the time, the company issued a press release in objection to the CPSC and called the agency’s statements “unjustified and alarmist.”

Now Future Motion is moving forward with a voluntary recall it chose not to do almost a year earlier. The company is asking owners to stop using their Onewheels until they take appropriate action. For the newer Onewheel GT, Onewheel Pint X, Onewheel Pint, and Onewheel Plus XR, a software update with a new warning system is the remedy.

For early adopters, however, the CPSC and Future Motion are telling owners to stop using and discard the original Onewheel and Onewheel Plus. We asked Onewheel chief evangelist Jack Mudd in an email how many of the original units are affected, but Mudd refused to answer. Mudd also wouldn’t tell us why the company claimed there were no issues and publicly resisted issuing a recall back in 2022.

Mudd did say that the software update for the other models is rolling out worldwide, not just in the US.

Some crashes occurred due to Onewheel skateboards malfunctioning after being pushed to certain limits. The Onewheel GT, Onewheel Pint X, Onewheel Pint, and Onewheel Plus XR will receive a firmware update that will add a new warning “Haptic Buzz” feedback that riders can feel and hear when the vehicle enters an error state, is low on battery, or is nearing its limits and needs to slow down.

“This update is the culmination of months of work with the CPSC,” reads the company’s recall website. Last November, it called the CPSC’s warning about Onewheels “misleading” but stated it would “work to enhance the CPSC’s understanding of self-balancing vehicle technology and seek to collaborate with the agency to enhance rider safety.”

To install the update, owners must connect their Onewheels to the accompanying app and run a firmware update — the process is fully explained in a new video.

For early adopters, however, owners can receive a “pro-rated credit of $100 to the purchase of a new board,” according to Mudd. The credit will only be issued after owners confirm that they have disposed of the old model.

Alongside Future Motion’s blink on the decision to recall Onewheel, the company shared a new video on YouTube highlighting the new Haptic Buzz feature as well as best practices when riding. “We’ve been working closely with the CPSC for over a year in order to develop this new safety feature,” Mudd says in the video. He adds that ignoring pushback or Haptic Buzz “can result in serious injury or death.” It took engineers a while to whip up Haptic Buzz; perhaps it’s something that would not have been ready in a timely fashion after CPSC’s first whistle last year.

  • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Those replacement onewheel boards that they are giving early adopters the $100 credit for… are those the ones with self-bricking defect, where internally the battery wires are crushed up against the metal chassis and can disconnect/short out once the insulation rubs away?

    I do admittedly have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth from past Onewheel repairability stances, where they actively prevented their users from being able to repair their own boards and stuff, with software serialisation and self-bricking when performing battery repairs or motor replacement

  • Delphia@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Is anyone else surprised that its only 4 deaths? I mean look at that thing? It just screams safety.

    • cassetti@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The brewery I hang out at sells the onewheels - they’re an authorized dealer. The brewer and co-owners all have XR’s which they ride all around town. It sounds great, they use them often…

      Except when you talk to them about their injuries… One guy fell and broke his wrist once, another guy broke and cracked a rib, the brewer broke his shoulder one time, then his wrist another time.

      Yet they still ride them!!

      I got a pint - rode it a few times until I few off once and haven’t ridden it since. I’m looking forward to selling it soon enough.

  • Stillhart@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I have three EUC’s and no Onewheels. Everything I’ve read and seen about them says they’re underpowered, so they easily cut out, and when they do cut out, your body position makes it much harder to recover safely.

    With a front-facing EUC, you can run off them if you’re not going too fast. With a side-facing Onewheel, when it inevitably cuts out because it’s underpowered and you have a huge lever to crank on it, you are gonna get hurt.

    I love the idea of Onewheels. They’re what initially got me into EUC’s in the first place. But they’re not safe. Hopefully this remedy helps.

  • Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Four deaths, three without a helmet, occurring when the unit is pushed beyond safe limits.

    As much as i hate the company who makes these, this sounds more like a user’s bad choices.