Hoverboard Battery Recalls: What the CPSC Records Show

At a Glance: The Five Hoverboard Recall Notices

Affected Products: Which Hoverboards the CPSC Has Recalled

A recall is a public action, announced in a CPSC notice, in which a company stops distributing a product and offers consumers a remedy such as a repair, a replacement or a refund. Federal law describes these remedies in 15 U.S.C. § 2064, which lets the Commission order a firm to repair the defect, to replace the product with one that does not contain the defect, or to refund the purchase price. Each notice below is the official record, linked so it can be read in full.

• CPSC recall 24-065, dated December 21, 2023: DGL Group Recalls Hover-1 Helix Hoverboards Due to Fire Hazard.
• CPSC recall notice: Jetson Electric Bikes Recalls 42-Volt Rogue Self-Balancing Scooters/Hoverboards Due to Fire Hazard; Two Deaths Reported.
• CPSC recall 21-189, dated August 25, 2021: Razor USA Recalls GLW Battery Packs Sold with Hovertrax 2.0 Self-Balancing Hoverboards Due to Fire Hazard.
• CPSC recall 18-027, dated November 14, 2017: Drone Nerds Recalls Self-Balancing Scooters/Hoverboards Due to Fire and Explosion Hazards.
• CPSC recall 18-028, dated November 14, 2017: Go Wheels Self-Balancing Scooters/Hoverboards Recalled by Four Star Imports Due to Fire and Explosion Hazards; Sold Exclusively at Village Mart.

The notices are specific about which units they cover. The Hover-1 Helix notice covers "certain Hover-1 Helix hoverboards" with serial numbers containing 15914, 19203 or 19988 "as the fifth code in the six-code serial number affixed to the bottom of the board," sold in camouflage and galaxy colors. The Razor notice covers "the removable GLW battery packs installed in UL-Listed Hovertrax 2.0 brand self-balancing scooters/hoverboards manufactured between September 2016 and August 2017," with serial numbers beginning with GLW on a white sticker on top of the pack. The Go Wheels notice covers "all Go Wheels self-balancing scooters," with "Go Wheel" printed in a circle where the two sides connect. The Drone Nerds notice covers "certain Drone Nerds self-balancing scooters," and states they were sold at a Drone Nerds store in Aventura, Florida, and online from November 2015 through March 2016.

What this means in practice: if you own one of these brands, the deciding details are usually on the board or the battery pack itself, such as a serial code, a sticker or a printed logo. A board of the same brand that falls outside the stated serial range or label may not be covered. A general walkthrough of matching a device to a notice appears in our lithium battery recall lookup guide. Each recall is stated here only as its CPSC notice states it, on its date; being on a list identifies a product, not the cause of any injury.

The Hazard the Notices Describe: Lithium-Ion Battery Overheating

Every one of these notices names the battery as the source of the hazard. The recall exists because of what the lithium-ion battery pack can do, not because of the wheels, the frame or the motor.

The hazard language, notice by notice, reads:

• Hover-1 Helix (24-065): "The recalled hoverboard's lithium-ion battery can overheat, posing a fire hazard."
• Jetson Rogue (23-165): "The lithium-ion battery packs in the self-balancing scooters/hoverboards can overheat, posing a fire hazard."
• Razor GLW packs (21-189): "The lithium-ion GLW battery packs in the self-balancing scooters/hoverboards can overheat, posing a risk of the products smoking, catching fire and/or exploding."
• Drone Nerds (18-027): "The lithium-ion battery packs in the self-balancing scooters/hoverboards can overheat, posing a risk of the products smoking, catching fire and/or exploding."
• Go Wheels (18-028): "The lithium-ion battery packs in the self-balancing scooters/hoverboards can overheat, posing a risk of the products smoking, catching fire and/or exploding."

People who research battery fires often meet a related term, thermal runaway: a condition in which heat inside a lithium-ion cell triggers a self-sustaining chemical reaction that rapidly produces more heat, gas and sometimes flame. That term explains why an overheating battery can move from warm to smoking to burning. It is offered here as a definition, not as a description of what happened inside any recalled unit.

For someone whose fire began near a charging board, the hazard wording shows what the agency identified for the product line, not what happened inside one particular unit. That is why the battery pack, its labels and the area where it was charging often become the focus of later questions. Similar notices for other battery products, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall, work the same way.

What the CPSC Reported About Incidents and Deaths

A family reading a recall notice after a fire will often look first for what it says about harm. Federal law generally asks notices to include that information: under 15 U.S.C. § 2064(i)(2), a notice generally includes "the number and a description of any injuries or deaths associated with the product, the ages of any individuals injured or killed, and the dates on which the Commission received information about such injuries or deaths," unless the Commission decides an item is unnecessary or inappropriate for a particular product. In plain terms, the incident section of a notice is where known harm is meant to be recorded.

The Jetson Rogue notice (23-165) states: "A 10-year-old girl and her 15-year-old sister died from a fire on April 1, 2022 in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. The Hellertown Borough Fire Marshal determined that a 42-volt Jetson Rogue was the point of origin of the fire. There have been multiple other reports of the recalled scooters/hoverboards burning, sparking or melting, several of which involved reports of flames."

The Hover-1 Helix notice (24-065) states: "DGL has received three reports of fire, which are associated with five reports of people experiencing headaches, nausea, or coughs from smoke inhalation and approximately $25,000 in reported property damage."

The Go Wheels notice (18-028) states: "Four Star Imports has received one report of a self-balancing scooter/hoverboard overheating. There have been no reports of injuries or property damage."

These are reports as the company or agency received them and as the notice records them; they describe other households, not the cause of any particular fire. If your own incident resembles one listed, the notice can show that similar events were reported, while the cause of your fire still turns on its own records, such as a fire marshal's findings. 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.

Official Remedy: What Each Notice Tells Consumers to Do

A remedy is what the company offers consumers under the recall. When the Commission orders one under 15 U.S.C. § 2064(e), no charge may be made to a consumer who uses it, and the firm reimburses reasonable and foreseeable expenses of doing so. For an owner, that means a remedy under such an order is meant to cost the consumer nothing. Each notice states its own remedy:

• Hover-1 Helix (24-065): "Consumers should stop using the recalled hoverboards immediately and contact Hover-1 for instructions as to how to receive a free replacement hoverboard."
• Jetson Rogue (23-165): "Consumers should immediately stop using these recalled products. The firm is no longer in business. A remedy is no longer available. Please dispose of the recalled products according to local battery recycling procedures at a battery recycling facility, not in the general trash or recycling."
• Razor GLW packs (21-189): "Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled self-balancing scooters/hoverboards and contact Razor for instructions on how to obtain a prepaid shipping carton to send the GLW battery pack back to Razor, and to receive a free replacement battery pack."
• Drone Nerds (18-027): "Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled hoverboards and contact Drone Nerds to return the unit to receive a full refund or store credit."
• Go Wheels (18-028): "Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled self-balancing scooters/hoverboards and contact Four Star Imports to return their unit to receive a free UL2272-certified replacement unit."

The contact details for each company appear on the linked notice. CPSC recall pages also carry a recall complaint form; in the agency's words, "If you are experiencing issues with a recall remedy or believe a company is being non-responsive to your remedy request, please use this form and explain the situation to CPSC."

A remedy deals with the product. Whether accepting one has any effect on a legal claim is a separate legal question that depends on the facts and on the state's law. Where a person was hurt, returning or discarding the board may also matter, because the product itself can be a record, as the last section of this page describes. That is one question a conversation with an attorney can help sort out before a unit leaves a household.

SaferProducts.gov and What Consumer Incident Reports Do and Do Not Show

SaferProducts.gov is, in the CPSC's words, "the CPSC-owned website where the public can file and read safety-related complaints about consumer products within the agency's jurisdiction." Congress required the agency to create "a searchable public database of reports of harm." According to the SaferProducts.gov FAQ, reports can come from sources "including: consumers, local, state, and federal government agencies, health care professionals, child service providers, and public safety entities," and a report can be published "even if an actual injury did not occur."

If you search the database for your board, it helps to know how the agency itself describes what you will find. Its terms of use say, in effect, that the reports are not checked one by one: "The CPSC does not have the resources to conduct an in-depth investigation or verify the accuracy of every Report or comment submitted for inclusion on SaferProducts.gov." The CPSC also does not vouch for the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the database's contents. Its consumer FAQ adds that staff "examines every Report that is submitted" but "cannot investigate and respond to every Report individually," and that a manufacturer may submit a comment in response.

A report that describes something like your own experience can feel like confirmation, but it is one submitter's account, certified as true to the best of their knowledge, and not a verified account of events or a substitute for an official recall notice. Its practical value is as a pointer: it may show whether others reported similar problems with the same model, which is a question an attorney can weigh alongside the official notice and your own records.

Why a Recall Notice Matters If You Were Hurt — and What It Does Not Decide

Product liability is the body of law that lets a person hurt by a product seek damages from the manufacturer, distributor or seller if the product had a defect that caused the injury. The defect is usually described in one of three ways. A design defect is a flaw in how the product was conceived. A manufacturing defect is a flaw introduced during production. A failure to warn is the absence of adequate instructions or warnings about a known risk.

The CPSC uses its own definition for reporting purposes, and it is broad enough to reach more than the battery cells. 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." For an injured person, that means the labels, warnings and charging instructions that came with a board can be part of the picture too. Separately, 15 U.S.C. § 2064(b) requires a manufacturer, distributor or retailer that obtains information reasonably supporting the conclusion that a product contains a defect which could create a substantial product hazard, or creates an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death, to "immediately inform the Commission," unless it knows the Commission has already been adequately informed.

A recall notice is evidence that a hazard was identified for a product; it is not a court finding and not an admission by the company. The questions that remain are whether this unit was one of the recalled ones, whether it was the source of the fire, whether a defect caused the harm, and what damages the law allows. A claim generally turns on whether the facts show a defect and causation, and whether that is met depends on the evidence.

State law decides much of this. Limitation periods, fault rules, damages rules and wrongful-death rules differ from state to state. A statute of limitations is the period within which a lawsuit must be filed; its length, when it starts to run and its exceptions are set by each state's statute and can differ by the type of claim. A conversation with our attorney can cover how a particular recall record fits what happened and which state's law may apply.

Records and Information That Often Matter in Hoverboard Injury Cases

When a hoverboard fire injures someone, the questions above are usually answered with records rather than recollection. If you were hurt, or a family member was, the records that usually matter include:

• The hoverboard itself, or what remains of it after a fire, including any battery pack and its labels and serial numbers.
• Proof of purchase, such as a receipt, an order confirmation or a card statement showing where and when it was bought.
• Photographs and video of the product, the charging area and the scene.
• Medical records describing the burns, smoke inhalation or other injuries and the treatment given.
• Fire department, fire marshal or police reports.
• The names of people who saw the fire or what led up to it.

The CPSC notice for the specific model is a record too. It identifies the product by name, serial range or label, states the hazard, and records the remedy offered. Matching a board's serial number or label to the notice is often what connects a household fire to a particular recall, as the Hover-1 Helix and Razor GLW notices show. The same approach applies to other battery products, such as the power banks covered in the Anker burn hazard recalls.

For a family sorting through a fire's aftermath, the list can feel long. People rarely have every item. If you would like to talk through which records connect your situation to a recall notice, you can request a case evaluation.