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Recall of Segway Announced by CPSC
mshiltonj writes "The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a voluntary recall of the Segway human transporter. The hazard is that under certain operating conditions, particularly when the batteries are near the end of charge, some Segway HTs may not deliver enough power, allowing the rider to fall. This can happen if the rider speeds up abruptly, encounters an obstacle, or continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert."
If you continue to ride after the low battery alert, it's your own dumbass fault if you get hurt.
It's like saying it's Fords fault your engine died because you didn't check your oil.
Gibble: Descriptive of an emotional state in which one's mind is scrabbling for some purchase on reality
I think most were sold for fleet use at a volume discount.
So, I'm riding along on my self powered segway that battery powered gyros to keep itself upright and I get a low battery warning and I ignore it. Then I get all upset when the thing pitches me off like a ragdoll to test the local dirt.
;-)
Hmm, I think that S in CPSC should be for Stupidity...
Note to stupid people... Firstly, if you've got too much money, I can help you with this problem
Secondly, I highly recommend you never get fitted with a pace maker... as you expire your dying words will be something like "Damn, I guess the doctor wasn't lying, the battery really is only good for 5 years..."
Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
You misunderstand the market for this device. It is basically a wheelchair targeted at old people that can't walk very well, but still would rather be in a standing position (because, let's face it, most of the world is set up for people of average height). Young people are not going to buy them because they are too slow and too expensive. However, the same people that consider riding a golf cart around a golf course to be good exercise just might buy or rent them...
"Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney
Bicycles are unstable too.
In other news...
"The CPSC has announced a voluntary recall of all bicycles. The hazard is that under certain operating conditions, particularly when the bicycle isn't moving, the lack of angular momentum to stabilize the device allows the rider to fall. This can happen if the rider slows down abruptly."
And I don't want anybody to say that we didn't warn you. We sure enough warned you.
This is not action by a court. This is not a lawsuit. This is action by a governmental regulatory body under George W. Bush. If they are acting under Bush, this must be a humongous problem.
In my opinion, proper use of a Segway will probably require at least a helmet.
Funny what happens when your amazing balancing anti-walking machine runs out of juice. And once you've picked yourself up off your ass/face, you get to lug your 90lb, $5000 machine someplace safe.
The humble bicycle, as if there was any doubt, clearly reigns supreme in this class of transportation. For getting around town comfortably, get a comfortable bike. For working around the warehouse, get a work bike or trike. And if you would like the electric assistance without your vehicle becoming useless when the battery runs out, get an electric bike. It's just that easy people.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
Clearly, my car needs to be recalled. When I run out of gas, it just stops.
This could be dangerous on the highway!
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Why can't they have something on front and back, like the wheelie bar on a dragster, to keep them from tipping completely and sending the rider sprawling in case of a failure?
All the software and gyroscopes and magic technology is fine and good, but it's nice to have common sense as your backup system.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
It isn't right to tell a child that they must always remember to check the power light on their scooter, or they could fall off and die.
Holy fucking shit, they might DIE??? We must recall the Segway, string up the whole design team, flay the government saftety officials that approved the design...
Oh wait, they could DIE from falling the wrong way down the stairs? Or even walking across the street?
To put it another way, while your post has a sliver of value, your emotionally laden words are both trite and pathetic. Please, do us all a favor and come back when you want to post something less sickening.
Too bad the fix is just a software upgrade... seems like they could add a retractable "nose wheel" that would deploy on low battery situations.
I mean really... who wants to land their Segway in a full stall anyway?
--Rob
If you mock the President ... then the terrorists win.
Completely offtopic, but...
Well, that's a rather small & narrow-minded view, don't you think? As a voting American, I feel that I have the freedom to mock the President whenever I want to. If we limit mockery, why not limit criticism & all political debate? By your logic, Dennis Miller is guity of aiding the enemy several times over. Howard Dean must be one of the ring-leaders himself! Off with their heads!!!!
Seriously though, you do more to aid terrorism when you buy your fiancee a diamond ring, buy some drugs for the weekend, or attempt to limit my freedom of speech with your tunnel-vision view of GW Bush. Getting elected to the presidency does not give him immunity to questions, criticisms, or even mockery from his constituents.
--Mid
...hmmm... if the device runs short of power, it sounds as if it can in effect pull your feet out from under you. (Actually, it's falling to push your feet under you). That sounds like a fairly unpleasant and dangerous kind of fall, similar to being tripped.
On a bicycle, it's easy and natural to take your foot off the pedal and put it on the ground; ditto a scooter. But perhaps it's not so easy when you're standing upright with both feet on the device.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
A better analogy would be, wouldn't they recall cars if your car steering and brakes failed every time the "low gas" indicator went on.
You're almost there. The equivalent situation for a dead Segway battery would be a gasoline engine with no gasoline.
I've been (un)fortunate enough to run out of gas in a car as well as while riding a motorcycle, and I can tell you when you're out of gas in either one (especially if you're in a freeway situation, which I was lucky enough to be in while riding a nearly-empty motorcycle) it is completely unsafe. No gas, no power. No power means you can't keep up, and suddenly the 5-10 feet between you and the other cars seems way too close. So if I, as a driver, am too careless/stupid/whatever enough to ignore the gas light and keep driving, how the hell could I make any claim that it's the auto manufacturer's fault if I get plowed into by other freeway traffic? I think this is similar to the Segway situation, because they're giving you a warning alert, so it becomes a discretionary issue with the individual.
I'm curious to know what Segway intends to do with the units that are sent back for the recall. My guess is that they'll simply modify the Segway to shut down if the battery is low.
Well, DUH!
Nobody ever doubted that Iraq had had WMD in the past, and virtually nobody doubted that the threat of force was necessary to induce Iraq to eliminate their WMD. The entire debate was whether Iraq had WMD mobilized and ready to use at the time of the invasion, posing such an urgent and immediate threat that it was necessary for the US to execute a pre-emptive strike, instead of cooperating with the international effort to enforce elimination of Iraq's WMD through the UN and the inspection process.
This can happen if the rider speeds up abruptly, encounters an obstacle, or continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert.
All of which are the rider's fault. By that logic we should recall cars, boats, and planes as well.
If we'd chosen instead to continue to work with the UN, it is quite likely that an invasion would have eventually taken place. We just wouldn't be footing virtually the entire bill and taking all of the blame (and almost all of the casualties).
It is amazing how difficult it is to form an intelligent response to this article.
I can understand slashdot's collective interest in all things Segway, but I think at this point there's probably nothing more that can be said about the subject.
I see this as a parallel to a prophetic article in which the Hurd is used to power the next Furby, thus sounding the death knell for both technologies.
Furby = nearly dead retired clown, and Segway = The Hurd, in case you didn't get my analogy.
It's an interesting technology looking for a market that doesn't exist. People in densely packed cities are doing just fine with inexpensive bikes. Americans like their cars. The Segway is the butt of a lot of unfunny jokes, and publicity stunts like this.