Amazon.com pulled all its hoverboards from its website on Tuesday. Currently, the online retailer only has hoverboard accessories on its store. All links and URLs leading to pages dedicated to hoverboards take consumers to a 404 "not a functioning page.”
This move comes shortly after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), an independent federal regulatory agency which assesses the safety of consumer products, announced that all hoverboards are unsafe.
“Self-balancing scooters that do not meet these voluntary safety standards pose an unreasonable risk of fire to consumers,” wrote the CPSC’s Robert J. Howell to the makers of hoverboards. “Consumers risk serious injury or death if their self-balancing scooters ignite and burn.”
Amazon’s decision to remove hoverboards follows similar decisions from Target and Toys "R" Us. Still, the company has been extra vigilant since reports surfaced about hoverboards blowing up and spontaneously catching on fire.
Earlier this year, through a statement from the CPSC, Amazon offered refunds to customers in the U.S. and Canada who purchased their hoverboard through the retail platform.
“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 at the time. “I also expect responsible large-volume online sellers in particular to stop selling these products until we have more certainty regarding their safety.”
