Future Motion, Inc., the manufacturer of Onewheel electric skateboards, issued a recall of 300,000 skateboards in tandem with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) after a series of accidents and four reported deaths.
The recall involves all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards, including Onewheel (original), Onewheel+, Onewheel+ XR, Onewheel Pint, Onewheel Pint X and Onewheel GT.
The recalled skateboards pose a crash hazard due to an error in balancing that could occur if the board’s limits are exceeded.
A notice by Future Motion and CPSC reported that the manufacturer was made aware of “dozens” of incidents resulting in serious injury, including concussion, paralysis, upper-body fractures, lower-body fractures, ligament damage, and traumatic brain injury.
Between 2019 and 2021, four deaths were reported related to the use of the recalled skateboards—all were the result of head trauma, and three of the fatalities occurred when the rider was not wearing a helmet.
The recalled products were sold online at onewheel.com, other websites and at independent shops nationwide from January 2014 through September 2023 for between $1,050 and $2,200. Model names are printed on the sides of the skateboards.
Owners of any Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards are encouraged to stop using them immediately. Some models, including the Onewheel GT, Onewheel Pint X, Onewheel Pint, or Onewheel+ XR can be updated via their accompanying app to include “haptic Buzz alert functionality,” a system that sounds a warning to riders when the board is nearing its limits, has a low battery or an error.
This firmware update will be available within one week for the Onewheel GT, while the Pint X, Pint, and XR will take longer at six weeks. For ore information, go here.
