> There have been at least four reported deaths between 2019 and 2021
If it were invented today the bicycle would be illegal.
CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
311–320 of 415 posts
Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
#312Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Is there a bug with onewheels that are causing this injury/death? Or is it just rider error doing a dangerous activity? The article describes the scooter suddenly stopping operation and throwing riders off. It's not just scooting being dangerous generally, but a specific product flaw.
I am absolutely no fan of Future Motion, and I ditched my OneWheel in protest. This isn't entirely a product flaw and comes down to physics: the board pushes you back (by lifting the front) to indicate that you are exceeding it's capacity to balance (all balancing products have a limit, with no exceptions). It will also push back when the battery is low. Either way, ignoring pushback is how people "suddenly have the…
I can't prove it but I'm fairly certain my OneWheel Pint just "powered off" a couple of times while in normal operation. Luckily I was going slowish so I was able to run-off and catch myself.
It does seems possible the CPSC is noting an actual product glitch. If the microprocessors aren't hardened for it or using redundant chips, then it'd be possible for them to bit flip occasionally. Among many other possible design flaws.
Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
#313Earlier quoted context omitted.
I for one think the future where we all walk around in cyberpunk body armour to protect ourselves from wayward idiots on powered transportation they are unable to control would be kind of sick
I'd be fine with everyone wearing bodycams and any victim being able to prove in court that they deserve damages.
>and any victim being able to prove in court that they deserve damages.
That still leaves the problem of judgement-proof defenders.
Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
#314I own and ride a Onewheel Pint (17mph max) and found it limiting, so moved up to an EUC (electric unicycle) that goes 30mph. I always wear a helmet and come from an extensive background riding BMX on ramps and jumps, skateboarding, snowboarding, and mountain biking. I agree with some other comments here that there is a learning curve and these are relatively dangerous for new riders, just like a skateboard is dangero…
Been wanting to go over to an EUC. How have you found the transition. I have like 1.5k miles on a onewheel xr but switched to scooters after people I knew kept getting injured. Hate to say the scooter is... too safe but it's sorta just standing there and hitting a button.
The learning curve/transition from Onewheel to EUC for me was about a week to get up to speed, I watched a few videos and practiced along a building wall, as well as in a parking lot for about two hour sessions a few times for a couple days before I actually commuted on it on the streets.
For the commuting I do, an EUC has been great - I ride an older Begode Tesla V2 (current version is T4) it has been perfect for riding in traffic with the quick acceleration, higher top speed, and great in bike lanes too. Also for longer rides I prefer riding facing forward on an EUC (like skis), vs the snowboard style stance of my onewheel.
Begode Tesla T4 (newest version of the size wheel I ride, now comes with suspension) https://eevees.com/products/begode-tesla-t4
Some EUC riding tips: https://youtu.be/vR-OYR5ziSQ
Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
#315Earlier quoted context omitted.
The Segway had a shorter platform, so the user wouldn't put it as far out of balance under typical use, and it had handlebars which allowed the user to pull it back if they started losing their balance. It also had a lower top speed of 10 mph (12.5 on later models); the Onewheel could run at 15-20+ mph. (I use the past tense because Segway production ended in 2020.)
It's a real shame that they've been forced to end production while these more dangerous technologies have proliferated.
"Forced" is a strong word. I don't think there was anything breathing down their neck to discontinue it, just market forces -- the semiconductor shortage of 2020 probably just pushed them over the edge into discontinuing what was already a low-demand product.
Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
#316Earlier 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?
Folks are saying to practice your fall-possibility-sport where a fall won't hurt as much. I say take it a step further and do focused practice of falling and rolling intentionally. There are a lot of videos on YouTube about how to do so.
When I started long boarding at ~38, I practiced throwing myself into a roll first from a crouch, then standing, then standing on the board - onto grass of course. It helped a lot when I did inevitably have unplanned falls on the pavement.
Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
#317Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I was a teenager I rode my skateboard down a parking lot ramp when I realized I was going way too fast, was about to enter the street and the only way to bail was to jump off and run. It looked about like that video. I didn’t realize these one wheels have top speeds of 16-20 mph. That’s faster than most people can sprint. 16 mph is a 3:45 mile. 20 is a 3:00 mile. > we're lucky to enjoy them before the nannies st…
There is a new(ish) safety device for table saws called a sawstop, which can capacitively detect flesh hitting the blade, and eject it before it causes injury. Works great, and there's a campaign to make them mandatory safety equipment on new table saws.
Yup I didn’t want to spend that much and it still doesn’t help with kick backs. I decided the track saw was sufficient for what I wanted to do, safer, and more space efficient. If I did ever need a table saw though I’d consider a Sawstop model cheap insurance. Maybe their parent will be expired by then. A few years back they won a patent suit against Bosch I think.
Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
#318Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 th…
Thanks for sharing. As a longtime bicyclist, I've been shocked by the increase, over the past decade, of reckless behaviors on the streets due to electric mobility riders. I'm glad to see some are learning, though sad to see it's only at the cost of someone getting hurt ...
While we're on the topic, street corners or not, the warning should extend to all sidewalk riding. Driveways and pedestrian gates don't usually have enough clearance around them that you would be able to see what's coming. (At least in the US where sidewalks aren't typically set up with a dedicated bike lane)
Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
#319Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting claim -- what's your reasoning? I would suppose it would depend on the cc of the motorbike, so, tentatively, yes, that makes intuitive sense -- a Honda Ruckus for example might not be much heavier than 3 e-bikes. All the same: big bikes are heavy , and that turns out to be a good thing, balance-wise. Really different feeling. You can't really put it in words, it has to be experienced!
> a Honda Ruckus for example might not be much heavier than 3 e-bikes. I don't think you're following what I'm saying. If the ebike is 50 pounds, and the motorbike is 550 pounds, and the human is 200 pounds, then motorbike+human is 3x the weight of ebike+human. And that's how much the tires are pushing down.
Makes sense. Thanks for this!
Re: CPSC calls for full recall of all Onewheel self-balancing electric skateboards
#320Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ever tried to brake too hard on a motorcycle? You can get them to slip out in all sorts of bad ways or just plain flip pretty easily without finesse and skill. Certain sports just come with more risks. In some cases they’re niche enough with the right communities that they self police or fly under the radar and escape regulation. Others wind up with restrictions and licensing requirements. In one wheel’s case it’s a…
Ever tried to brake too hard on a motorcycle? Yes. If I turn off the ABS and traction control, I'm skilled enough to lift the back wheel. But you know what has never happened? Having the front brake lock all on its own because I dared run the bike to empty. ...and you’re still best off never letting the battery die. ...lest the board cast you to the ground in a dangerous manner. Which, from my reading, is why the CPS…
Having the wheel "lock up" is a mischaracterization of the failure mode under loss of power. The problem is that loss of power while you're on a reverse pendulum means that you're leaning forward, and the device is no longer able to stop you from extending the lean by giving more power and speed to bring you back into balance.
Any device which operates as a powered reverse pendulum will have this property. Segway was the first, and there are plenty of other "hoverboard" or "unicycle" style designs which act similarly. The differences with the Onewheel are thus:
1) It's a skateboard orientation, so if you don't have the muscle memory from skateboarding you won't know what to do when it starts to bite the ground. Front to back orientation is more intuitive.
2) It's faster and higher powered than most alternatives, lending more risk of being beyond the threshold which you can reliably transition to running if it loses power.
That's it really. It's a more sporting device with a higher learning curve and a bigger risk envelope. It is advertised as such though. This is a thing that's made to shred in all terrain for people who are daring enough to deal with the risk.
They're making manned multi-rotor copters where one motor failing mid-flight means you fall right out of the sky, and that's a pretty likely death. Sporting devices with power failure modes that have no easy recovery are not unprecedented in other categories either. You have the same problem with classical helicopters if you're below the auto-rotation altitude or are not skilled in auto-rotation recovery.