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CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

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Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#181

Post by renewiltord »

butterguns wrote: post #152
ramesh31 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knowing how to fall is such an incredibly important life skill, it's baffling to watch people who never learned it. As a ski instructor, you could instantly tell from their first fall the kids who would get it and stick with it from the ones who would be sitting in the lodge pouting after an hour.

I know how to fall (intellectually). How do I translate that into the real world? I took a nasty fall on my MTB this summer, broke my shoulder. Everything was instinctual and a blur. Can we somehow retrain our innate responses?

When I first learned to ski, my cousin just shoved me over until I got used to how to fall comfortably. With snow, it's no pain whatsoever.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#182

Post by anon334455 »

eagleinparadise wrote: post #113
0_____0 wrote: post #23

One issue I've noticed with these new forms of electric wheeled transport (longboard, transverse and longitudinal one-wheelers) is that the people riding them often don't come from a sports background. They aren't "safe" devices exactly - it takes skill to pilot them, and when things inevitably go awry, it takes good reflexes to avoid damage. Novices to action sports often throw their arms out to catch themselves whe…

My partner was hospitalized for nearly a week and had to have facial reconstructive surgery and nearly lost all her teeth after she got hit by someone on a scooter going 25mph while we were walking Be careful out there if you combine speed + unprotected mode of transportation

Created a new account to warn everyone to be more aware around street corners. I once tried to catch a train so I rode a scooter on the sidewalk which I normally don't. Seeing no cars, I didn't slow too much at a street corner, and ran into someone. Luckily the top speed on the scooter was 15mph and I slowed to probably 13mph, but still, the force was too much and the person failed pretty hard. I swear to never do that again. Please pay extra care around street corners, and tell your kids to do so.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#183

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

CharlesW wrote: post #93
shockeychap wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not a link to a video describing a specific bug in the product. It's just a link to a search of "onewheel injuries" in YouTube, which presents a variety of videos detailing all manner of injuries that come from operator error and the inherent dangers of OneWheel operation. Try searching for "mountain bike injuries" and see what you get. Is there anything else? (I'm sincerely interested. The CPSC article clear…

> (I'm sincerely interested. The CPSC article clearly infers a situation in which it suddenly stops. Is this confirmed?) The first few seconds of this 2-year-old video shows it happening to Adam Savage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys3ivCUxIvY What I'm finding after some light digging is that this "nosedive" problem has seemingly been injuring people for years. There's apparently even a small ecosystem of add-on p…

> Using an intuitive redline display, the power gauge lets you know at a glance how much power the motor has left before a nosedive is imminent.

What a quote.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#185

Post by willk »

I had my Onewheel take a nose dive for no reason. I had just started moving forward on it, was probably going 8-10mph. I broke my arm. I contacted support, and they told me nothing was wrong with board that they could see in their diagnostic. I haven't ridden it much since as I can't trust it.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#186

Post by cma »

WD-42 wrote: post #176
Glide wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there something more inherent that makes an electric unicycles more dangerous, other than they make them go ridiculous speeds? I would have thought the larger wheel on an EUC made it more stable and the higher power makes it not have to nosedive. I kind of prefer e-bikes because they are well… normal.

I think it really comes down to the fact that these single wheelers don't support the operator without power. You can stand on skateboard, slow down, and come to a complete halt and it's still working as intended. On a bike you will eventually topple from one side or the other, but the way a bikes works means the rider is supported in a natural position for a long time. When the one-wheeler loses power it just nosedi…

Those would look like training wheels and looks are everything in these devices.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#187

Post by renewiltord »

0_____0 wrote: post #23

One issue I've noticed with these new forms of electric wheeled transport (longboard, transverse and longitudinal one-wheelers) is that the people riding them often don't come from a sports background. They aren't "safe" devices exactly - it takes skill to pilot them, and when things inevitably go awry, it takes good reflexes to avoid damage. Novices to action sports often throw their arms out to catch themselves whe…

I genuinely do not believe any OneWheel riders are in this category. Loads of things aren't safe and we still let people ride them. I don't have a OneWheel, but my friends and I have beat those light-up speed signs enough times on bikes, longboards, skateboards, you name it.

It's fun as fuck, and maybe you can die so you should wear a helmet but preventing people from playing with death is bullshittery.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#188

Post by mackmgg »

bombcar wrote: post #26
s17n wrote: post #15

I'd be curious to know how many onewheels have been sold - my guess is that 4 deaths represents a very high risk of death relative to eg snowboarding, but without a denominator, there's no way to know.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/50-million-miles-on... and https://www.imarcgroup.com/one-wheel-electric-scooter-market might be able to get a rough number.

4 deaths per 50 million miles means it’s just under 1 death per 10 million miles. That would put riding a one wheel for 1 mile at the same risk as biking 1 mile, walking 2 miles, or driving 25 miles[1]. That is of course only looking at death and not serious injury.

Still, as other people have mentioned there are solutions Future Motion has been avoiding that would significantly lower the risk. Adding small wheels on each side in case of nosedives, or adding a loud audible warning in case of low battery or max speed being reached rather than just a subtle physical alert are two that have been suggested here and seem like they would make a big difference.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromort

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#189

Post by EamonnMR »

butterguns wrote: post #152
ramesh31 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Knowing how to fall is such an incredibly important life skill, it's baffling to watch people who never learned it. As a ski instructor, you could instantly tell from their first fall the kids who would get it and stick with it from the ones who would be sitting in the lodge pouting after an hour.

I know how to fall (intellectually). How do I translate that into the real world? I took a nasty fall on my MTB this summer, broke my shoulder. Everything was instinctual and a blur. Can we somehow retrain our innate responses?

Same way you train any other faster-than-thinking response: lots and lots of practice.

Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards

#190

Post by evan_ »

aksss wrote: post #104
mikestew wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The device tips its nose forward and dumps its rider on their head. There is no need to compare to anything if a device has this behavior. If the battery runs out, I expect the device to come to a stop, not throw me on my ass. I'm pretty sure even a paramotoring rig that runs out of fuel isn't going to immediately hurt me, and those things fly .

It does come to a stop. You get thrown on your ass because of the laws of motion. Your last statement - are you talking about using a fan with a parasail, which is a stable glider without power? If you want to use that analogy, this is more akin to taking too sharp a turn in a parasail, where the sail can't sustain and collapses in, causing you to fall like a rock because of the law of gravity. In a nosedive on a One…

Only the newest, most expensive Onewheel (the GT) has an audible alert
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