Future Motion, the maker of the Onewheel electric skateboard, is recalling every one of them, including 300,000 Onewheel self-balancing vehicles in the US. Alongside the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the company now seeks to remedy the products after four known death cases — three without a helmet — between 2019 and 2021.
The recall comes a year after Future Motion took issue with the CPSC’s calls for recall and claimed that it tested and found nothing wrong with the Onewheels. At the time, the company issued a press release in objection to the CPSC and called the agency’s statements “unjustified and alarmist.”
Now Future Motion is moving forward with a voluntary recall it chose not to do almost a year earlier. The company is asking owners to stop using their Onewheels until they take appropriate action. For the newer Onewheel GT, Onewheel Pint X, Onewheel Pint, and Onewheel Plus XR, a software update with a new warning system is the remedy.
For early adopters, however, the CPSC and Future Motion are telling owners to stop using and discard the original Onewheel and Onewheel Plus. We asked Onewheel chief evangelist Jack Mudd in an email how many of the original units are affected, but Mudd refused to answer. Mudd also wouldn’t tell us why the company claimed there were no issues and publicly resisted issuing a recall back in 2022.
Mudd did say that the software update for the other models is rolling out worldwide, not just in the US.
Some crashes occurred due to Onewheel skateboards malfunctioning after being pushed to certain limits. The Onewheel GT, Onewheel Pint X, Onewheel Pint, and Onewheel Plus XR will receive a firmware update that will add a new warning “Haptic Buzz” feedback that riders can feel and hear when the vehicle enters an error state, is low on battery, or is nearing its limits and needs to slow down.
“This update is the culmination of months of work with the CPSC,” reads the company’s recall website. Last November, it called the CPSC’s warning about Onewheels “misleading” but stated it would “work to enhance the CPSC’s understanding of self-balancing vehicle technology and seek to collaborate with the agency to enhance rider safety.”
To install the update, owners must connect their Onewheels to the accompanying app and run a firmware update — the process is fully explained in a new video.
For early adopters, however, owners can receive a “pro-rated credit of $100 to the purchase of a new board,” according to Mudd. The credit will only be issued after owners confirm that they have disposed of the old model.
Alongside Future Motion’s blink on the decision to recall Onewheel, the company shared a new video on YouTube highlighting the new Haptic Buzz feature as well as best practices when riding. “We’ve been working closely with the CPSC for over a year in order to develop this new safety feature,” Mudd says in the video. He adds that ignoring pushback or Haptic Buzz “can result in serious injury or death.” It took engineers a while to whip up Haptic Buzz; perhaps it’s something that would not have been ready in a timely fashion after CPSC’s first whistle last year.
I have one of each. I would say the benefit of the onewheel is a much cushier ride (giant, wide pneumatic wheel vs 4 smaller polyurethane wheels) and more maneuverability. The onewheel can tackle all types of terrain, which gives you a real sense of freedom while riding, whereas the 4-wheeler is pretty much limited to pavement/concrete (although you can put 7" pneumatic tires on 4-wheel boards that can accommodate them). Onewheeling is much more akin to that snowboarding feeling except you can pivot more since you only have a single point of contact with the ground, but there’s not as much (any, really) of the lateral slide that you get on a snowboard, which can be both a plus and a minus.
If I want to go fast, I definitely grab the 4-wheeler. If I want to take a more leisurely pace/go explore offroad, I take the onewheel. I totally get and agree with what @fosho said about having to be very nimble & quick in a pinch, which is definitely true unless you’re not going that fast on it to begin with. I rarely, if ever, exceed 15mph on the onewheel, but I can easily hit twice that on the 4-wheel board. Having to dodge something on that thing at that speed can be just as catastrophic as having the onewheel turn into a catapult at 15 mph. Both have their risks, and almost all of them can be tied to speed.
Fun fact, a sudden 30mph stop is about the same as falling from a 2-story building. (I used to teach PHTLS)
Although it’s true you’re going about 30mph when you hit the ground from that height, it’s much more harmful because of the continued acceleration due to gravity. An equivalent scenario would be hitting a brick wall at 30mph which then immediately begins accelerating into you at 9.8 m/s^2.
I can’t help feeling a lot of these new motorized doodads are total deathtraps. I used to have a 40mph kaabo electric scooter and although it was mega fun, I sold it before it had a chance to kill me. Small wheels, poor geometry for stability, small caster angle, intoxicatingly high power - it’s a recipe for disaster.
Thanks for the explanation!