You’ve probably seen people riding around on sidewalks and through malls on the handleless motorized scooters known as hoverboards. But what you may not know is that many of these little rolling menaces are blowing up—literally. The U.K.’s National Trading Standards inspected around 17,000 hoverboards, and of those, 88 percent were in danger of overheating, catching fire or exploding due to faulty plugs. A family in Louisiana recently lost their home to a fire cause by 12-year-old Hayden Carbo’s birthday present: A FitTurbo hoverboard. According to U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairman Elliot F. Kaye, Amazon is leading the charge and “putting public safety first” by issuing refunds for all consumers who have purchased a hoverboard through their site. Amazon has also removed several hoverboard brands from their website and issued warnings to consumers about certain brands with “non-compliant plugs.” The chairman also said there are no safety standards in place for these devices and warned that UL marks, a sign of certification from a respected safety testing company, is not an indicator that the device is actually safe. And, Kaye added, many devices have been found with counterfeit UL marks. Stay safe out there, folks.
