Hoverboard Explosion Leads To Family Losing Their Home: The Most Dangerous Gift Of The Holiday Season?
We’ve all heard about electronic cigarettes blowing up in people’s mouths, but hoverboards blowing up while people are riding them? What is proving to be the most popular gift of the holiday season is also proving to be the most dangerous.
Just before this year’s Thanksgiving, Jessica Horne thought she would surprise her 12-year-old son, Hayden, by giving him a “Fit Turbo” hoverboard. She had no idea it would lead to her family’s house burning down over an alleged malfunction.
“My son had just received his Bday present on Friday, couldn't wait till 7 a.m. on Saturday to ride it,” Horne said on the family’s GoFundMe page. “He was thrilled with his new hover-board, self balancing electric scooter. When it ran out of charge, he brought it inside, put it on the charger. As I walked past his room I saw it began to shoot sparks & within seconds it was in flames, within minutes the entire room was in flames.”
Hayden was understandably excited about receiving his new hoverboard, so he started using it that night. The following day he plugged the hoverboard into the charger it came with when the battery ran low. Chaos ensued.
"It was like fireworks," Horne told WGNO, "the middle part of the board — just 'poof.'"
This is far from the first hoverboard-related accident on record. In the past three months, The Consumer Product Safety Commission has received eight reported injuries tied to hoverboards that have ended in hospitalization. All of these injuries were falls and if those aren’t enough there are a plethora of videos on the Internet that perfectly illustrate how not to ride a hoverboard. This is also not the first fire-related hoverboard incident to be reported.
According to Timothy Cade, he only had his hoverboard for three days before it caught on fire and exploded while he was riding it. When the hoverboard’s lithium batteries started shooting out of its sides, Cade ran to grab his phone and started recording the pyrotechnics going on in front of his house.
Lithium batteries, like the ones found in hoverboards, were only found in hearing aids, watches, digital cameras, and other portable consumer electronic devices once upon a time. They recently began making their way into children’s toys, e-cigarettes, and other household products.
The dangers associated with lithium batteries are so widespread that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was forced to issue a statement for travelers who may be carrying lithium batteries after a number of incidents involving smoke, fire, extreme heat, and explosion.