Horrifying moment for Briton as hoverboard catches fire with him on it
In December last year, we had reported how the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) are looking into the safety of the popular toy ‘hoverboard’, after the commission had received several reports of the motorized, self-balancing scooters bursting into flames.
In the increasing list of incidents is a recent instance of the hoverboard going up into flames while the owner was still on it.
Kevin MacLeod, a British hoverboard owner says that he had charged his brand new hoverboard overnight and wanted to film his first attempt on the device in the video. He said, I “thought i would end up falling over and wanted to catch it on video.”
The video shows that as soon as he takes the device outside to ride, it blows up in flames. To make matters worse, everything happens dangerously fast, giving MacLeod barely enough time to escape being burned by the fire.
“I started to stand back and look hesitant because I started to hear a kind of faint hissing sound just before the smoke I stood back to look down as to what it was. Before I could really react to that it was smoking then just went up in flames,” he wrote in the comments.
As he watches the hoverboard burn, McLeod says, “No wonder you’re not allowed to bring them on [airplane] flights.”
This one unlike other hoverboard burning videos doesn’t continue to burn and shoot out batteries, maybe because the device was quickly extinguished with water by McLeod. However, the device still smoulders as smoke puffs from its insides even after throwing a good amount of water on the device.
The YouTube user does not mention the brand name of the hoverboard; however, he did mention that he purchased it from a seller on eBay.
Over the last two months, stories of hoverboards bursting into flames have been widely reported. In December, Amazon pulled many popular hoverboard models from its website after authorities around the world issued warnings about the safety of the devices. Many airlines, including Air Canada, have barred travelers from bringing them on board planes.
