15,000 Hoverboards Seized As Unsafe In United Kingdom (nationaltradingstandards.uk) 178
puddingebola writes: National Trading Standards and trading standards services in Scotland have released figures that 15,000 of 17,000 hoverboards have been seized at ports of entry in the UK because of safety concerns. The boards were seized "due to a range of concerns, such as safety issues with the plug, cabling, charger, battery or the cut-off switch within the board, which often fails." Are we pushing hoverboard technology too far too quickly, or are there just a group of criminal sociopaths manufacturing unsafe devices at Christmastime and pumping them into the market? Mashable has a story summary with links to video of a man in Alabama with his hoverboard on fire. The government of New York City isn't so hot on hoverboards, either.
Wait, what? (Score:4, Insightful)
Hoverboards? What year is this?
Re:Wait, what? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wait, what? (Score:5, Informative)
2015, the year they went to in Back to the Future 2.
However, being this is reality, it should come as no shock that "hoverboard" is a marketing gimmick for shitty electric skateboards. The Daily Show covered this well [cc.com].
Learning that not only are they shitty electric skateboards but they're also poorly made, dangerous shitty electric skateboards comes as no shock.
Re:Wait, what? (Score:5, Funny)
Learning that not only are they shitty electric skateboards but they're also poorly made, dangerous shitty electric skateboards comes as no shock.
That depends on the failure mode...
Re:Wait, what? (Score:4, Interesting)
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The year of stupid people, really really REALLY stupid people call these hoverboards.
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probably the same people who name everything "smart"
Not hoverboards (Score:5, Informative)
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It's kind of like taking an airplane and calling it a "Starship".
It's fraud. No ifs, ands or buts about it.
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It's kind of like taking an airplane and calling it a "Starship".
Been done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Not as silly as taking a group of musicians and calling them a "Starship".
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Funny you say that
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Re:Not hoverboards (Score:4, Insightful)
However, the blurb about NYC, trying to ban them because they "weren't licensable" just chaps my ass....
More and more, govt seems to be there for NOTHING more than regulating everything, and charging you money for the "privilege".
With this type of regulation and down neck breathing of govt to the public back in decades past...we'd certainly not have the nice things we do today, and buggy whips would still be the fashion everywhere!!
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NYC, yes. Most the rest of the US, there's a strong desire to return to the Gilded Age. Except not really. Because people oddly don't like drinking shit and river fires.
You shou
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In fairness, the early history of the automobile was littered with the bodies of people killed by reckless drivers. If the early drivers had behaved responsibly then there wouldn't have been such a strong push for regulation.
Re:Not hoverboards (Score:5, Insightful)
Digging a bit deeper into the question of their legality, we find this article from the NY Daile News [findlaw.com]
It appears that these motorized electric scooters - which I've personally only recently become aware of, and until reading this article had no idea they were becoming so popular, essentially fall under a broad "motorized transport" classification.
I guess that it is easy to paint a picture of "big government wants its pound of flesh" surrounding their registration. However, the interpretation I take is that any tom, dick, or harry can't just go driving a motor-propelled vehicle on the streets and sidewalks of NYC. In fact, the whole topic of this thread is that 15,000 of these things are siezed in the UK for being unsafe. Are the scooters being sold on the streets of NYC coming from a different chinese factory? Is there any less of a problem of bootleg, unsafe goods?
I'm sorry, but I'f I'm walking down the streets of brooklyn or wherever, I don't want someone slamming into me on their unsafe, unregulated, apparently-on-flames motorized fad-scooter.
But you're right, government only exists to regulate, regulate, regulate. It's all just rules and red tape, isn't it?
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Well, public safety is pretty much in the purview of government responsibility, I think.
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"More and more, govt seems to be there for NOTHING more than regulating everything, and charging you money for the "privilege".
Didn't you get the memo?
The job of government is to take your rights and sell them back to you as a privilege, subject to an annual (or other) fee and license.
And honestly, I am *NOT* kidding... just think about it!
Re:Not hoverboards (Score:4, Funny)
Hint: IT. DOESN'T. HOVER!!!
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my vaccum cleaner is called hovertrax. wait, hoover trax. also my blacksmith.
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Hoverboard 360 Specializes in High End 2 Wheel Motorized Hoverboards
http://www.hoverboard360.com/ [hoverboard360.com]
The owner should be repeatedly kicked right in the dick for this.
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The only good thing about these PR=B$ fad units is the limited weight capacity. So lard arses who want to use them, have to walk to burn off the fat before they can use them, in order to stop walking. This kind of makes America a very limited market ;).
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Re:Not hoverboards (Score:5, Interesting)
They aren't being sold for 500 quid, they are being sold for half that direct to consumers on sites like Banggood, eBay and Deal Extreme.
Consumers directly importing unsafe goods is a growing problem. Drones, hoverboards, chargers, batteries... While European shops have to abide by common safety standards, you can basically import anything you like and most of the time it won't be checked. The only reason hoverboards are is that they cost enough to be charged duty and VAT on.
I wonder what will happen to all the consumers who bought these things. Most of these sellers make it clear that customs is your problem, and Trading Standards won't pay to return them. The best option is probably to claim on your credit card under section 75, unless you paid by PayPal in which case you are likely screwed.
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> They aren't being sold for 500 quid, they are being sold for half that direct to consumers on sites like Banggood, eBay and Deal Extreme.
The cheap ones that will catch on fire and burn your house down sure. But the reputable quality ones are still in the upper 3 figures.
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Most components I buy off Amazon.com are direct shipped from the far East these days - usually arrive in less than a week, cheap, same quality as domestic, what's not to like?
Re:Not hoverboards (Score:4, Insightful)
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What's next?
Are they going to start trying to require us to register, license and pay tax on fucking bicycles next?!?!
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When bicycles start bursting into flames, maybe.
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I registered and licensed my bicycle when I was a kid.
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Seriously???
Where do you live? I was being half sarcastic...I never thought they'd really do this somewhere...?!?!
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It was basically a combo safety and anti-theft program. Kids took a bicycle safety class sponsored by the police force, then you get a little numbered tin tag that got attached to your bike, so if it was stolen and recovered it could be tracked down. Wasn't mandatory but most parents wanted their kids to use it. So technically it wasn't a real license, but that's how a lot of people referred to it.
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I have never seen roller skates burst into flames.
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With enough speed and friction it can happen, so it just means you've never seen anyone skate really hard.
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You would lose that bet. Did you even glance at the summary?
I mean, brother: there's a link to the video right in the story.
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Didn't they also ban the Segway here? That hasn't stopped any of the people I've seen riding them. One of the justification for banning the hoverboard I read said that it's motorised so needs to be regulated as a scooter, but you need to be able to sit on it for that to happen. I instantly thought of the Segway tours you can take through Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
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It just seems counter intuitive to ban hoverboards when skateboards can do equal amount of damage.
But I've only been in NL for 2 months so everything still seems counter intuitive to me, especially the way you pronounce your "g" and "gr" s :-)
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The problem is not that all of them catch fire, but the cheap ass Chinese knockoffs are catching fire because they don't conform to UK safety standards. (cue the angry libertarian who will point out that it's not the governments business to protect us if we want to burn our own homes down)
Unsafe unbranded clones prone to combustion (Score:5, Informative)
There are some oddities around these "hoverboards", in the UK, though. Specifically, it's illegal to operate one on either a public road or a pavement, meaning that they are legal only for use on private land. Technically, I think, the same is true of Segways.
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We can only hope.
Re:Unsafe unbranded clones prone to combustion (Score:5, Informative)
They aren't really "Knock-Offs," there really isn't an official manufacturer of "Hoverboards."
http://www.npr.org/sections/mo... [npr.org]
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these are cheap, unbranded Chinese and East Asian knock-offs
I'm not sure I've ever seen the "genuine" product.
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No, and plenty of "hoverboards" are legally imported into and sold in the UK without being impounded. Just as plenty of Segways are imported and sold, despite being subject to similar restrictions around use on public roads.
The problem here is that for a story which has had a fair bit of coverage in the press today, the article selected as TFA is a really bad one and gives very little detail of the case. The hoverboards which were seized were cheap knock-offs, sold for substantially less than the "branded"
Re:Not knockoffs (Score:5, Informative)
UK is the only place I know of where appliances are sold without power cords.
Really? I live in the UK and regularly buy appliances of various kinds and they have always come with a power cord, so this is news to me. I can just about remember a time when it was standard for devices to come without a plug and you were expected to wire your own on (presumably a hang over from the change in plug types and the fact that older ones were still in common usage for a while), but it's been a requirement for them to come with plugs for probably 20+ years.
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Dryers have to be 30A. If you have some kind of older circuit with a higher rating, it should be downrated (with a lower breaker). I think the biggest reason the cord isn't included is so that the warehouse store can charge an extra $20.
Not surprising (Score:2)
I wish they wouldnt call those things hoverboards (Score:5, Insightful)
they clearly DONT hover.
Dumb question (Score:2)
Are we pushing hoverboard technology too far too quickly, or are there just a group of criminal sociopaths manufacturing unsafe devices at Christmastime and pumping them into the market?
It's the latter, obviously.
Unsafe charging has nothing to do with the, ahem, "hovering" technology.
Annoyance will be outweighed by humor (Score:4, Interesting)
Hoverboard users running into me on the sidewalk will be balanced by watching them accidentally run into small bumps and fall flat on their stupid faces.
It's very simple: (Score:2)
Obligatory dirty Hungarian phrasebook reference (Score:5, Funny)
My hoverboard is full of eels.
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Drop your panties Sir William, I cannot wait 'til lunchtime.
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From the PCMag Review (Score:3)
"The MonoRover's power adapter is legitimately scary." [pcmag.com]
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"The MonoRover's power adapter is legitimately scary."
It's scary because it has a fan in it? That probably makes it about ten times safer.
NPR's Planet Money on Hoverboard Development (Score:3)
Sorry kids (Score:3)
It's going to be Jarts again for Christmas.
NYC not so hot on correctly enforcing bike laws (Score:2)
NYC is infamous for things like cops running out into the street and attacking cyclists [bikeradar.com], or parking their cruisers in bike lanes and then ticketing cyclists for not riding in the bike lane [gothamist.com].
Despite the public outcry and idiocy of that, were up to the same thing the next year [youtube.com].
And then the year after that... [streetsblog.org]
Oh shit, I just got one delivered LAST NIGHT! (Score:2)
It came in the mail yesterday, direct from China. I tested it last night, seems to work fine. Haven't charged it yet, it was already charged up when I unboxed it.
Mine is the larger 8-inch second generation unit with the Bluetooth connection. This type: http://g02.s.alicdn.com/kf/HTB... [alicdn.com]
According to the info I just gleaned from this thread, the device itself is fine and it's a defective charger that could cause a fire, specifically the power cut-off that detects a fully charged battery and automatically stops
Happy Fun Board (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, it's Happy Fun Board! The toy sensation that's sweeping the nation! Only 14.95 at participating stores! Get one today!
Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Board.
Caution: Happy Fun Board may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.
Happy Fun Board contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.
Do not use Happy Fun Board on concrete.
Discontinue use of Happy Fun Board if any of the following occurs:
If Happy Fun Board begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.
Happy Fun Board may stick to certain types of skin.
When not in use, Happy Fun Board should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration. Failure to do so relieves the makers of Happy Fun Board, Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited, of any and all liability.
Ingredients of Happy Fun Board include an unknown glowing green substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.
Happy Fun Board has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Board.
Happy Fun Board comes with a lifetime warranty.
Happy Fun Board! Accept no substitutes!
Euphemism for 'Chinese'? (Score:2, Funny)
a group of criminal sociopaths manufacturing unsafe devices at Christmastime
I believe they're called Chinese.
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Hmmm ... I've seen crappy cars with ugly neon lights along the running boards ... we don't call them hovercars.
Sorry, 'hoverboard' is some asshole in marketing who things lights and hovering mean the same thing.
This is a sideways, motorized skateboard.
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"Perceived as being cool", by whom? Everyone I know who's seen one had the Daily Show reaction: "So... it's just a Segway without the handlebars?". No one thinks Segways are cool, and no one thinks "hoverboards" are cool. Rather; *everyone* thinks that an actual hoverboard would be awesome and cool, if they were to be brought to market. But no one is fooled by these frauds.
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Lot of hot youtubers like them so fans of those hot youtubers will have seen them and like them.
There are already cool videos of a 7 year old doing skatepark stunts on one.
The fact you can do 7 to 8 mph on one and well made ones have a 15 mile range is pretty damn impressive.
A sub 3 hour charging time too.
I'm 6'5" and I'm 25 pounds over the weight limit (so probably greatly reduced range) or I'd own one yesterday.
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The idea itself is kind of interesting. The name is dumb and the implementation from both design and implementation perspectives needs work, but this thing takes the concept that the Segway attempted to create, which was a small machine capable of transporting a person, and reduces it to the size of a personal
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"Hmmm ... I've seen crappy cars with ugly neon lights along the running boards ... we don't call them hovercars."
It just takes one marketing exec to read your sarcastic comment to make it reality.
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It happened before [lolsnaps.com] and it will happen again.
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Well, it will take someone in marketing to arrive at an interpretation of "reality" which coincides with how you used it. ;-)
Slapping a sticker on a normal car to call it a hovercar, well, let's just say that's not "reality".
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Not yet practical to bring to market? You mean that entire cities, or at least skate parks aren't paved with superconducting magnetic blocks and massive LN reservoirs?
That's a pretty interesting interpretation of "not yet practical"
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I've done it before. It's quite easy [wowhead.com] actually.
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Would governments ban hoverboards (or other fun yet somewhat less safe devices, like bicycles) if it was determined there were savings to be made to universal health plans? Does the public good of tax savings/resources outweigh individual choice of risks?
What about universal fire fighting service? Which is probably more relevant, since the BBC article references two fires in two weeks in London due to these devices.
Bicycles are considered healthy, and are slightly subsidised (reduced tax if bought through your employer to use to cycle to work).
Re:Hoverboards and universal health care (Score:5, Informative)
Three fires in London over ten days in October:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/busi... [bbc.co.uk]
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Yeah evil gubbermint banning the sale of dodgy things liable to catch fire.
Your house burns down and you die? Vote with your wallet and don't buy from that company again. FFS people should take personal responsibility for their actions.
Sodding nanny state. I'll bet it's the EU's fault. Yeah.
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Is the government going to seize matches now?
Matches have been known to start fires, btw.
People are well aware of the danger of matches, and of the two kinds of matches (safety / traditional) all brands are similar. They aren't well aware of the significantly greater danger of some brands of these toys.
I don't know the detail of the law, but I think you can still buy one of these dangerous toys -- but you'd need to import it yourself, and it needs to be clear that you don't intend to resell it. (The regulations are called "trading standards", they're rules for retailers.) This is how things lik
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If somebody tried to import a shipment of fake Ford cars, which didn't meet safety standards and were prone to catching fire while parked, you can bet that they would be seized and destroyed.
It's legal to sell these "hoverboards" in the UK, provided they comply with the safety standards for electrical devices. It's not legal to operate one on a public road or pavement, but that wasn't the issue here.
Re:cars are unsafe too (Score:4, Insightful)
It's legal to buy plenty of things which can be dangerous if used improperly, from cars to parachutes to kitchen knives.
What we do have, however, are laws on issues such as electrical safety standards. These exist to provide the public with a degree of reassurance that devices which are not being used in a manner which is inherently unsafe - which are, for instance, just charging their batteries from the mains, will not do things like catching fire and burning down their homes.
I regard that as a good thing. If you want to buy a hoverboard, then go out and buy one which has passed those basic electrical safety checks. Nobody's preventing you from doing that.
This is about giving people a basic level of confidence that every last electrical device they buy isn't going to put them at significant risk of their house burning down. I'm in favour of that.
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They're not seizing them from consumers, doofus. They're seizing them at the port of entry. The same way they would seize a shipment of defective propane tanks.
They're not saying you can't sell a hoverboard. They're saying you can't sell a hoverboard that will blow the fuck up.
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He probably thinks the Nanny State passed Ohm's Law.
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Georg Ohm was an SJW.
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He probably thinks the Nanny State passed Ohm's Law.
there was a lot of resistance to that one. but it's currently on the books because it passed with enough volts
gah. i really had to force that last one in there :/
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Aye man. Den we only drink DeWhiskey.
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Well... duh. What't not made in China these days?
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http://boingboing.net/2015/11/... [boingboing.net]
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How is it Apple's fault, when it was a replacement battery, and the third party person who replaced it left a tiny screw that punctured the battery, when the put everything back together?
Re:sympathy for the retailers/manufacturers? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah, except these are knockoff devices, with unsafe electrics.
Some idiot falling off his stupid not-a-Segway isn't what the concern here is. The concern is same idiot plugging it in to charge, and burning down his apartment complex because it's a cheap knockoff that was wired by an incompetent, and has batteries with known failed cells that rupture when bumped around too much... you know, kind of like when an idiot falls off his stupid not-a-Segway.
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and by "hoverboard technology" the writer actually means "cheap chinese knockoffs with bad wiring"
By the way, why the fuck are we calling these things 'hoverboards' when there is absolutely no hovering involved? It's a segway without the handle thing, and less capable.