The Safety of Hoverboards |
Posted: July 30, 2018 |
Even if you have never seen a hoverboard in person, chances are you've seen them in commercials, Youtube videos and even the nightly news. While some of the popularity of hoverboards came from homemade clips that showed people wiping out in a hilarious fashion, others included accidents that resulted in serious injury. It's injuries like the ones mentioned above which caused many news sources to report on the dangerousness of these items, especially when reports of hoverboards catching on fire began to break loose. When the hoverboard became immensely popular in 2015, the biggest story surrounding them was a detailed discussion on these dangerous instances. Fast forward three years, and we're now asking ourselves the question: are hoverboards safe to try now? Are Hoverboards Safe?The answer to this question is not 100% clear, although a huge improvement in this area has been made by the industry on a whole. Despite the reforms and upgraded precautions that have been taken, it cannot be argued that the safety of hoverboards were a major issue when they first came out. In addition to what was discussed above, there were also hoverboard bans put into place by major cities, airports, and even Amazon would not sell certain models to customers anymore. With all of the different ways that people were running into problems with their hoverboard from injuries to not being allowed to use them in certain places, many people are not aware of just how far the technology has come since its’ troubled start. Safety RegulationsThe problems that occurred with the 2015 and early 2016 hoverboards that were sold were unfortunately never fixed and many of them had to be taken off of the market, and in some cases they even asked the owners to destroy them. However, in 2016 there was a new set of regulations that was created by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in order to increase and guarantee the safety of all hoverboards created going forward and those safety regulations are thankfully still in effect today. All new hoverboards that are made carry a UL 2272 compliant certification which means that they have passed a series of over 150 specific tests in order to prove they are safe to market. Some of these tests include:
Despite all of these precautions, the fear will always be there that the hoverboard may catch on fire due to all of the mishaps that happened when the product first came out. These fires were supposedly due to faulty electronics and batteries that did not work or charge properly. It is also a little alarming to know that even if you purchase a hoverboard that is UL 2272 certified that the chance of a fire or mishap never occurring is still not 100 percent and the possibility that there may be an incident still exists. However, the chance of this occurring is significantly lower than it was back in 2015 because of the new testing rules and not only that there are some additional steps one can take to make sure they do not run into any unfortunate situations such as these. Steps to Stay Safe for your Hoverboard
With all of these improvements to the safety of hoverboards and the tips one can take in order to make their ride more smoothly and without incident it is very possible that the popularity of these once highly sought out machines may rise again. On the other hand, despite all of these precautions it is important to know that the safety of these hoverboards may never be 100%, and the risk of being injured and having faulty equipment will most probably always be a possibility. There are some hoverboards that are still being recalled although so far none of them have had the UL 2272 certification which is an extremely promising development. In the end, the question of whether hoverboards are safe does not have a definite answer, but it can be said without question that they are much safer now than when they first came out. From the rigorous new testing these machines must go through to the UL 2272 certification that confirms that the hoverboards have been tested for safety to the precautions the individual can take on their own to improve their experience it can at least be said that hoverboards are way more safer than they used to be. Whether this results in hoverboards once again becoming the hot ticket item they once were remains to be seen, but once people learn about the improvement of hoverboards in regards to safety it is very possible they will once more be as in demand as they were when the interest in them first began.
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