When hoverboards started blowing up and spontaneously catching on fire, Amazon was one of the first retailers to stop selling the self-balancing boards. Now, the electronic commerce company has announced, through a statement from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), that it will be offering refunds to anyone in the U.S. or Canada.
Individuals who purchased a hoverboard through the retail platform can get their refund by contacting the company through its Contact Us page.
“I expect other retailers and manufacturers of hoverboards to take action and offer a full refund now to their customers as well,” CPSC Chairman Elliot Kaye wrote in a statement. “I also expect responsible large-volume online sellers in particular to stop selling these products until we have more certainty regarding their safety.”
The CPSC is currently investigating 40 hoverboard-related incidents across 19 states. According to Kaye’s statement, the CPSC is not only investigating the fire hazards but also injuries associated with falls.
“I am concerned, for example, that the current designs of these products might not take fully into consideration the different weights of different users, potentially leading to the units speeding up or lurching in a manner that a user would not have reason to anticipate, especially a first-time user,” wrote Kaye. “We are looking deeper into the design of these products to see if they present a hidden hazard that is leading to fall injuries that should not occur, even on a product that presents some risk of falling.”
