Think Twice Before Picking Up A “Hoverboard” This Christmas

I’m sure most people have seen these by now, the so called “Hoverboards” have become a massive hit all over the world and people want to get their hands on one. Now as we all know they are not in fact hoverboards however they are as close to the real thing as we have gotten so far but they are essentially two-wheeled, hands-free electric scooters.

However you may want to hold off on getting one at the moment. It is somewhat of a grey area, they are not banned in Ireland yet however authorities have “significant safety concerns” over their use here and just the other day they seized 1,000 hoverboards at Dublin Port.

Authorities are right to be concerned because there has been a growing number of incidents around the hoverboards catching fire which is possibly a result of the battery back overheating. Consumers are being urged to make sure that should they decide to buy one they need to check that the manufacturers name or trademark is clearly on the packaging and that the product is certified as meeting the EU safety standard.

Just recently a man in Alabama has claimed that his hoverboard spontaneously combusted while he was riding it. He had owned the hoverboard for three days and it “exploded” just after a few minutes of riding it.

After the initial explosion, the man started filming it on his phone, after a few moments he attempts to put it out with some baking soda however the battery pack appears to explode and is then ejected from the scooter. You can watch his video below.

The hoverboard was doused with water and then briefly caught fire again before they managed to finally put the fire out for good. The manufacturer details for this particular board are not available however it was bought on Amazon for $500.

Mashable has also reported that this week a Louisiana family is blaming a charging hoverboard for setting fire to and ruining the family home.

If you are buying a hoverboard this Christmas, make sure that you are getting the proper, genuine article. There are plenty of cheap knockoffs out there at the moment and unfortunately many of them are a lot hotter than we would have wanted them to be.