
In an accompanying statement from agency chairman Elliot F.
#IMOTO SMART BALANCE FREE#
“It is not too late to take advantage of the recall,” Wolfson said, adding that some companies are offering refunds while others are offering a free replacement battery, which has been reviewed by the safety commission and deemed safe.Ĭonsumers with questions about these toys can visit the safety commission’s website, type in the name of their product and see what remedy is available to them, he said.The CPSC has also posted a list of companies that are currently under scrutiny, including Swagway, UWheels and Hover-way. Since last year’s recall of more than 500,000 hoverboards, the commission has not seen a sustained number of fire reports, said Wolfson, making Harrisburg a “dramatic and deeply concerning incident.”

“The fact that a toy caused this kind of destruction to our lives is just wrong,” said Megan Fox, owner of the house and mother of four who escaped the house-destroying blaze. On February 9, 2016, for example, the Nashville Fire Department reported that a hoverboard was the source of a fire that burned down a family’s million-dollar home, according to CNN affiliate WZTV. According to the commission, the lithium-ion battery packs inside the hoverboard can overheat, posing a risk of smoke, fire and/or explosion. The majority occurred between fall 2015 and winter 2016. “We have conducted more than 60 fire investigations across the country,” Wolfson said. The flow of reports gradually began to pick up, and so the commission decided to launch a full-blown investigation into every occurrence, he said. Wolfson said hoverboards became “quite popular” in fall 2015, and the Safety Commission started receiving fire incident reports about the product around that time. The family said they heard sizzling and crackling before the hoverboard exploded, Enterline reported. Dennis Devoe was killed in a traffic accident on his way to the fire.įire Chief Brian Enterline told the fire was ruled accidental and the source was a rechargeable hoverboard plugged into a first-floor outlet. “We do not know whether the tragic incident in Harrisburg involved a recalled hoverboard or not,” said Wolfson, who noted that the commission has begun an investigation to learn this and other key answers. Half a million hoverboards recalled due to fire hazard Recalled iMoto Smart Balance Board From Consumer Product Safety Commission Last year, 10 different brands of the toy were recalled in July with one additional brand recalled in December as a result of nearly 100 reports of burns and property damage caused by fires resulting from overheating batteries. The girl’s father and a teenage boy were both treated for smoke inhalation and released shortly thereafter, and two other girls who had been in the house remain in critical condition.Īshanti’s is the first death linked to a fire from a self-balancing scooter, commonly called hoverboards, in the United States, said Scott Wolfson, communications director for the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Friday, sent six people to the hospital.Īshanti Hughes died in Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest’s burn unit Saturday morning, said a spokesman for Lehigh County Coroner’s Office and Forensic Center.

Her death is believed to be the first in the nation to result from a blaze caused by the battery operated toy, some of which have previously been recalled due to their potential fire hazard. A 3-year-old girl died over the weekend in a fire ignited by a recharging self-balancing scooter in her Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, home.
