Swagtron Burn Recall: What the CPSC Notice Says and What It Means

Affected Products: What the CPSC Recall Covers

The official record is the CPSC notice titled Walmart Recalls Swagtron SG-5 Swagger 5 Boost Commuter Electric Scooters with Lithium-Ion Batteries Due to Fire and Burn Hazards; Risk of Serious Injury and Death. It carries recall number 25-138 and a recall date of February 20, 2025. Everything on this page about the recall comes from that notice, and the notice itself remains the place to confirm its current status and instructions.

The notice names the product as "Swagtron SG-5 Swagger 5 Boost Commuter Electric Scooters." It describes them as powered by lithium-ion batteries, with the battery located beneath the scooter deck. The recalling firm is Walmart, of Bentonville, Arkansas, which the notice identifies as the retailer. It names the manufacturer as "Swagtron, of South Bend, Indiana," and lists the scooters as manufactured in China.

The notice also records how the recall came about, in its own words: "The manufacturer, Swagtron, of South Bend, Indiana, has not been responsive to CPSC's request for information about this product or to CPSC's request for a recall. However, Walmart as the retailer has agreed to recall electric scooters that were purchased at Walmart or Sam's Club either at its stores or on its websites." That statement is the CPSC's description of the recall process. It is not a finding about the cause of any fire or injury.

This notice concerns one product line and the units it names. It says nothing about other products carrying the same brand name, and it is not a description of Swagtron products in general. If you own a scooter and want to know whether it is covered, the model details in the next section are what decide that.

Affected Models: Which Scooters Are Named in the Notice

The CPSC notice identifies the recalled scooters by model number, color and markings. According to the notice, the scooters "were sold in black or silver colors," "SWAGGER 5" is "printed in large lettering on the stem of the handlebars," and the model numbers "are affixed to the side of the scooter deck."

The notice lists the model numbers this way: "SWGR5-V2-SLV, SWGR5-V2-2, SG5 Boost, SG-5S, 96262-2, 96262-9, SG-5S, and 96560-2." The CPSC page also includes photographs showing the black and silver scooters, the location of the model and serial number, and the location of the battery pack beneath the deck.

The notice states the recall covers "About 17,970" units. It reports that the scooters were sold at "Walmart and Sam's Club stores nationwide and online at Walmart.com and SamsClub.com from May 2018 through October 2024 for between $175 and $450."

For an owner, the practical stake is simple: whether a particular scooter matches the notice decides whether the recall remedy applies to it. Matching the model number on the deck against the list on the CPSC page is the most direct check, and the official page, not this article, is the authority on which units are covered. The site's guide to lithium battery recall lookup explains how to read a CPSC notice field by field.

The Hazard the CPSC Notice States

The CPSC notice for Recall 25-138 (February 20, 2025) states the hazard in one sentence: "The electric scooters' lithium-ion batteries can overheat, smoke, melt and ignite, posing fire and burn hazards, posing a risk of serious injury and death."

That description fits a failure mode lithium-ion batteries are known for. Thermal runaway is a condition in which a battery generates heat faster than it can release it, setting off a self-sustaining reaction that can lead to fire or explosion. The notice itself speaks in terms of overheating, smoking, melting and igniting; it is the official description of the hazard for these scooters, and the general term is offered here only to help explain what those words describe.

The same notice reports incidents. In its words: "There have been seven reports of the lithium-ion batteries in the electric scooters overheating, smoking, melting or igniting, with one ignition resulting in a fire, causing a burn injury and substantial property damage to a residential apartment building." Those are the incidents as the CPSC reported them; nothing on this page adds to or characterizes them further.

If you were hurt or your home was damaged, it is natural to read that incident sentence and see your own experience in it. The distinction matters, though. A recall is not a finding that the product was defective in a particular case, an incident report does not prove what caused an injury, a lawsuit is not a finding of liability, and an allegation is not a fact. A recall notice is not a finding that the product injured any specific person or that any firm is liable, and incident reports listed in a notice do not establish what caused any individual injury. For a general explanation of how battery fires cause burns, the site's page on lithium battery burn injuries covers that ground.

The Official Remedy: What the CPSC Notice Directs Consumers to Do

The remedy listed in Recall 25-138 is a refund. The notice states the full remedy this way: "Consumers should immediately stop using and charging the recalled electric scooters, cut the throttle cord, and dispose of the entire product following local and state hazardous waste disposal procedures. Consumers who purchased their electric scooters from Walmart or Sam's Club will receive an email with instructions on how to receive a full refund."

The notice adds a separate note on battery disposal. It says recalled lithium-ion batteries "should be disposed of in accordance with any local and state ordinances, following the procedures established by your municipal recycling center for damaged/defective/recalled lithium batteries, because these potentially hazardous batteries must be handled differently than other batteries." It also says, "Do not throw this recalled battery in the trash. Do not deposit this recalled battery in used battery recycling boxes found at various retail and home improvement stores." Disposal rules are set locally, so the CPSC page and the local procedures it points to are the source for current guidance.

As the notice states it, the refund process runs through Walmart for scooters bought at Walmart or Sam's Club. The CPSC page lists a Walmart consumer contact and a Walmart recalls web address for more information, and it offers a complaint form for anyone who "believe[s] a company is being non-responsive to your remedy request."

For someone who was injured, the remedy raises a real tension. The notice directs disposal of the product, while the scooter and its battery may matter later in understanding what happened. That tension is one of the questions families in this position often find themselves weighing, and it is taken up again in the records section below.

What This Recall Notice Establishes — and What It Does Not

A recall is an action, coordinated with the CPSC, in which a product is taken out of sale or use because of a reported safety hazard; it can be voluntary or ordered. Federal law spells out what a recall notice ordered under it generally contains. Under 15 U.S.C. § 2064, such a notice generally includes, unless the CPSC finds an item unnecessary, a description of the product, the action taken, the number of units, a description of the hazard and the reasons for the action, the manufacturers and significant retailers, the dates of manufacture and sale, the number and a description of any injuries or deaths along with ages and the dates the CPSC received the information, a description of the remedy and how to obtain it, and other information the CPSC deems appropriate.

So a recall notice records a reported hazard, the incidents reported, and an official remedy. It is not a court finding that the product caused any specific injury or that any firm is liable.

That difference sits at the center of product liability, the area of law that addresses whether a manufacturer, distributor or seller may be responsible for harm caused by a product. Product liability claims usually turn on whether there was a defect. In general terms, there are three kinds: a design defect, where the product's design is unsafe; a manufacturing defect, where a particular unit was made incorrectly; and a warning defect, where the product lacked adequate warnings or instructions.

The CPSC uses its own definition of defect for deciding what firms must report. Under 16 C.F.R. § 1115.4, "a defect is a fault, flaw, or irregularity that causes weakness, failure, or inadequacy in form or function," and it "can also occur in a product's contents, construction, finish, packaging, warnings, and/or instructions." That regulation governs reporting to the CPSC; it does not decide an injury claim, which state law governs.

Whether a person injured by a recalled product has a legal claim depends on the specific facts: a duty, its breach, causation and damages, or, in a defect claim, a defect and causation. A recall can be part of that picture, but it does not answer those questions on its own. Readers comparing records may find the CPSC notices described on the site's Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall and Anker burn recall pages useful as examples of how other notices are worded.

Why the Timing of a Recall Matters When You Were Injured

A statute of limitations is a law that sets the deadline by which a legal claim must be filed in court. There is no single national deadline for personal injury or product liability claims involving a battery fire. Each state sets its own limitation periods, and they can differ by the type of claim.

When a limitation period starts to run, and what exceptions apply, depends on the state's own statute and the type of claim. The same is true of fault rules, which decide how a person's own conduct affects a claim, and of the rules on which damages the law may allow. No state's rule is the rule everywhere.

The CPSC notice is a federal safety record. Its date tells you when the recall was announced; it does not set, pause or extend any state's filing deadline. Whether a recall has any effect on a deadline is a question for the law of the state involved, and a claim filed after the period a state's law sets can be barred regardless of the recall.

If you were burned, or a family member was hurt or killed, in a fire involving one of these scooters, the date of the fire, where it happened and the type of claim all bear on which deadline applies. Those are exactly the facts a conversation with an attorney can help sort out. If that conversation would help, you can request a case evaluation to talk through the dates and the state involved.

Records That Often Matter in Battery Injury Cases

In a battery fire, the product itself is often central. The scooter, its battery and any charger can bear on what failed and why, which is why the recall's disposal instruction and an injury claim can pull in different directions for an injured person.

If you were hurt, the records that usually matter include medical records documenting the injury and treatment; photographs and video of the product, the scene and the injuries; the scooter, its battery and any packaging or manuals; purchase records such as a receipt, order confirmation or order history; incident reports or fire department reports, if any were made; and the names and contact information of witnesses. Injured people and families often gather these as they go, sometimes long before they decide whether to pursue anything.

Matching purchase records against the notice also has a practical side. The model number on the deck, the color and the date of purchase are the details the CPSC notice uses to identify the recalled units.

The CPSC notice describes the reported harm as a burn injury and substantial property damage to an apartment building. Which records matter in a given situation depends on what happened, and a conversation with an attorney can help a person understand what is relevant to their own facts.