Amazon pulls out hoverboards, questions safety, after fire-related incidents

Amazon is pulling out hoverboards from its stores and is questioning their safety standards after a series of fires related to the self-balancing device hit the headlines.

MSN reported that major hover boards seller Swagway reported that Amazon asked them for documentations on the safety of their hit device. This is to determine whether the major seller of the new Back To The Future-inspired device is following the safety standards, which includes the UN 38.3 and UL 1642 for the battery, as well as the UL 60950-1 for the charger.

According to the Daily Mail UK, Swagway said it was happy to adhere to the demands of the giant online retail store and give safety specifications. Swagway has already complied to those standards and is happy that Amazon is taking steps to make sure low-quality boards won't make it to the market.

Amazon gave a comment, saying, "As safety is always on the forefront for Swagway, we're glad that this is taking place, especially in light of recent concerns with the fires with the poor quality batteries."

The Guardian reported that hoverboards are easily the hottest gifts for the holiday season this year. However, these devices are manufactured in bulk from China, which are then bought by various sellers that rebrand them as their own. These hoverboards have large batteries and are susceptible to fire accidents.

There was a hoverboard that reportedly exploded in a Washington state shopping mall last week. With so many news on terrorism, this sent people into panic. No one was hurt, but this news made it on headlines all over the world.

Britain's trading standards authority reported early December that 88 percent of hoverboards made outside of EU have failed their safety standards.

In the United States, there has been 10 reported hoverboard fires so far from nine different states. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission is now investigating the cases.