No hoverboard currently on the market can be deemed safe.
That’s the startling conclusion the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) reached after its months-long investigation into the safety hazards posed by hoverboards.
On Thursday, Mashable has learned, the CPSC sent out an official notice to retailers, manufacturers and importers with new hoverboard safety standards that, if not followed, could result in enforcement actions, including seizure of the devices as well as civil and criminal penalties.
More directly, the CPSC is calling on hoverboard makers and sellers to voluntarily take hoverboards off the market until they can be certified as safe by UL, the independent testing firm widely used by U.S. electronics manufacturers. UL has not yet certified any hoverboards as safe.
As we reported earlier this month, the UL only recently created a new certification protocolspecifically addressing hoverboards (as opposed to the chargers that come with them) and any other self-balancing scooter. What that means is that any hoverboard brand currently displaying the UL mark on its packaging is doing so without authentic certification from the safety testing company.
Now, backed by the official notice from the CPSC, hoverboard makers and retailers are finally directly accountable and officially compelled by the federal government to comply with the safety standards issued by UL.
https://youtu.be/GUIJ_lHk54U
By Adario Strange, Mashable, SouthFloridaReporter.com, Feb. 19, 2016
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