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Feds Say There Isn't A Single Safe 'Hoverboard' (engadget.com)

In the Consumer Product Safety Commission's letter to manufacturers, importers and retailers, it urged them to make sure the scooters they make and sell comply with the safety standards set by Underwriters Laboratories, the organization in charge of certifying that products are safe for use. According to UL Consumer Safety Director John Drengenberg, "no hoverboard has passed the certification process at this time."

5 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Correction by fisted · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There isn't a single [] hoverboard. Big neas.

  2. Non-sequitur. by msauve · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The feds say they must meet a standard. The summary says none are certified to a standard. Those are two different things. A manufacturer could certainly manufacture a product to meet the standard, but not spend the extra time, money and effort to have it certified by a private organization.

    Not saying there are ones which comply, only that the summary makes invalid assumptions.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  3. More importantly by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

    More importantly, they don't actually hover.

    They are lucky we live in a time with rule of law, because if we were living in Roman times, I would go burn down their factory and get away with it. Makes me mad every time I see those liars mentioned.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  4. Re:Don't Listen to UL by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In a word: bullshit. You're presenting the notion that companies would not cut corners without a watchdog. The IDEA that a company would make a product "too safe" for UL to approve is prima facie nonsense. Yeah, we WANTED to make it more expensive, but those bastards at UL wouldn't let us". LOL. This just in: given the opportunity, people will cheat. Full stop.

  5. Re:Don't Listen to UL by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are actually some cases where OP is correct; a certifiable product may be less safe than a non-certifiable product given different design priorities.

    That said, the same OP's issue is true of every trade organization or "independent" third party. Good luck getting ASHRAE, IEEE, GSM, or any other standards body information freely. If you want a certification, you are stuck paying for it, be it LEED, Uptime Institute, NCEES, or whatever. It was only recently that municipalities had to make building codes available freely online.