Hoverboards investigated for starting fires, taken off retail sites

“She was screaming, I was trying to get someone to help and my uncle came out and poured a bucket of water on it”, Denny said. According to family members, the hoverboard burst into flames when a 15-year-old girl stepped onto the board while it was charging. Trading Standards revealed last night that more than 38,000 hoverboards had been “subject to intervention” at border points due to safety concerns, and 32,000 had been assessed as unsafe, mainly over electrical issues.

The three largest US airlines have banned hoverboards because of the potential fire danger from the lithium-ion batteries that power the devices.

Hoverboards are a popular Christmas item, but some brands are being investigated for catching fire.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) said it’s received 10 reports of the self-balancing, two-wheel, motorized board catching fire from consumers in nine states, while there are 29 reports of people being treated at an emergency room after falling off of one. They could easily do that by dropping it off at a recycle location provided by the company upon which Amazon is also going to refund them the full price of the hoverboard.

Ebay, Walmart and Toys-R-Us were still selling certain models on Monday.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has been able to seize 164 hoverboards with counterfeit marks and fake batteries this week alone, said the agency. The charred remains of the hoverboard and the batteries were on the doorstep to the home Tuesday. A month later, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed to CNNMoney that they are illegal in New York City too.

The South Bend, Ind.-based company said the notice went out to all hoverboard sellers and that Swagway already meets all of those requirements and has sent the requested information to Amazon.