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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

#21

Post by easygenes »

It seems lax of CPSC to issue such a damning statement without an accompanying comparative analysis to other board or motor sports. What’s the injury rate vs other similar sports and how much of that is to blame from undereducated or reckless riders? Also, what’s the rationale for the recall if the issue is people ignoring the obvious warnings the thing is giving that the battery is about to die? This doesn’t seem to be a matter of system failures or inherent design flaws.

Paramotoring is risky, but no one is chasing all paramotor manufacturers to recall their products. Similar for dirt bikes. It seems somehow these are getting singled out due to their uniqueness and being a product from a single company, not because there’s a flaw in the design that makes them inordinately risky.

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

#22

Post by roughly »

1attice wrote: post #8

With thunderstorms, you count seconds 'twixt bolt and boom. With the current golden age of electrified last-mile transport, we're seeing the gap between innovation and regulation opening up wide -- now several years. Real-world impact: I routinely get up to speeds on my e-bike that are, quite simply, dangerous. It's not that I never hit 25 miles an hour on my old road bike, it's that I spend so much more time hanging…

I picked up an e-bike not too long ago and took a bit to decide between class 2 and class 3 - I didn’t have enough experience with a bike and a speedometer to gauge whether the 20mph limit on class 2 would be enough. Having ridden around for a while now, yeah, absolutely agree - anything over ~15-20mph is above my comfort zone for “able to adjust to sudden changes in the environment.” Folks who get the “class 4”s are baiting a date with a reconstructive surgeon.

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

#23

Post by 0_____0 »

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 when they bail instead of rolling through the fall. They also don't know how to navigate obstacles via strategic weighting and unweighting of their implement.

The energies involved are also substantial -- to put it bluntly, some of these things fuckin' rip, which is super fun, but also makes safety gear a good idea. You can take a lot of trauma and abrasion bailing at 25mph+, potentially life-changing or fatal in the worst cases. There's a reason why downhill longboarders and an increasing number of electric wheel riders wear a fullface and leathers.

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

#24

Post by aksss »

s17n wrote: post #12
alden5 wrote: post #3

onewheels suffer from a problem known as nosediving in which the board shuts off when it can't supply enough power to support the rider, as the board is self balancing this is a problem intrinsic to the board's form factor. The board works in a similar fashion to balancing something like an umbrella on your hand, as the rider leans forward it creates an imbalance that requires the board to accelerate in order to keep…

Pushback is extremely unintuitive, it should do pushforward instead.

It has a pushforward mode - we just refer to it as nosediving. It's very intuitive, and a great trainer. Instills respect very quickly.

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

#25

Post by frankus »

s17n wrote: post #12
alden5 wrote: post #3

onewheels suffer from a problem known as nosediving in which the board shuts off when it can't supply enough power to support the rider, as the board is self balancing this is a problem intrinsic to the board's form factor. The board works in a similar fashion to balancing something like an umbrella on your hand, as the rider leans forward it creates an imbalance that requires the board to accelerate in order to keep…

Pushback is extremely unintuitive, it should do pushforward instead.

It also seems like they could do haptics, i.e. superimpose an audio-frequency wave on the motor current. Similar to the steering feedback you get with a lane departure warning system.

But then again it might be difficult/impossible to make it distinguishable from e.g. rough pavement.

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

#26

Post by bombcar »

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.

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

#27

Post by Dylan16807 »

FpUser wrote: post #13
1attice wrote: post #8

With thunderstorms, you count seconds 'twixt bolt and boom. With the current golden age of electrified last-mile transport, we're seeing the gap between innovation and regulation opening up wide -- now several years. Real-world impact: I routinely get up to speeds on my e-bike that are, quite simply, dangerous. It's not that I never hit 25 miles an hour on my old road bike, it's that I spend so much more time hanging…

>"heartily recommend that other early adopters think about voluntarily seeking out additional training" Alternatively one can stop being an idiot and ride at safe speed. I bet that "additional training" would require at least this kind of sanity

Are you saying that 25mph is inherently unsafe? What's the safe speed then, for a normal dry day?

Does this speed limit apply to motorcycles too?

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

#28

Post by furyofantares »

alden5 wrote: post #3

onewheels suffer from a problem known as nosediving in which the board shuts off when it can't supply enough power to support the rider, as the board is self balancing this is a problem intrinsic to the board's form factor. The board works in a similar fashion to balancing something like an umbrella on your hand, as the rider leans forward it creates an imbalance that requires the board to accelerate in order to keep…

Mine just turns off even on flat ground when fully charged and ejects me forward. Started happening after about a week of use, just as I was getting comfortable, but it's just completely unusable. Maybe I'm a bit too big, or riding a bit too far forward or something, I don't know, but I feel a bit vindicated now.

What a waste of money, I'm glad I wasn't injured worse than just some scrapes and bruises.

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

#30

Post by ars »

izzydata wrote: post #9

Do segways have a similar problem or is the vehicle large enough that it can always counter balance your weight?

I think the pole in the center prevents your body from leaning forward more than the Segway will tilt (i.e. it can just tilt backwards, and push your body back where it belongs).

With the Onewheel you can just lean forward as much as you like, and the board is supposed to accelerate to bring your center of balance back into the middle.

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