Products Liability
The Onewheel is a new single-wheel skateboard powered by an electric motor. The Onewheel is made and sold by Future Motion Inc and has become very popular. A growing number of Onewheel riders are getting seriously injured due to a design defect that causes the Onewheel to stop very suddenly and unexpectedly, forcefully throwing the rider over the device.
Future Motion is now defending a rapidly growing number of Onewheel injury lawsuits. These product liability lawsuits allege that the Onewheel has a dangerous design flaw and that Future Motion is liable for the resulting injuries.
The Onewheel product liability lawsuits will be consolidated into a new class action MDL very soon. Miller & Zois is currently accepting Onewheel injury lawsuits. Call us at 800-553-8082 for a free case evaluation.
The Onewheel
The Onewheel is a self-balancing, single-wheeled, self-balancing, electric skateboard powered by an electric motor and a battery.
The Onewheel is operated by the rider shifting the balance of their weight forward or backward, which causes the motor to power the wheel in that same direction.
Onewheel riders can also download an app on their smartphone to help them control and monitor their Onewheel. The Onewheel has a top speed of around 18 miles per hour, around sprinting speed for most people.
Even under the best of circumstances, driving a OneWheel is risky business. Operating the self-powered board is a complex and risky endeavor. Initially, the rider must find equilibrium on the platform, which carries a significant chance of toppling over. The manufacturer recommends the support of “a friend” for stability while attempting to mount the board for the first time.
As these companies are wont to do, Future Motion played in both ways. It stresses the necessity for users to exercise extreme caution and maintain constant contact with the board. But they advertising encourages users to leap from the board while it spins beneath them. Children are a considerable segment of the board’s user base – the ones they are targeting with Tik Tok videos – and they are the ones likely to do exactly what they see.
Onewheel Stopping Unexpectedly
The Onewheel lawsuits originate from incidents in which the Onewheel’s motor suddenly stopped unexpectedly during use. When a rider is on a Onewheel at full speed, an unexpected and sudden full stop can be very dangerous because it will immediately and violently throw the rider off the device. When a rider is suddenly thrown off the device, they can be thrown to the ground or strike nearby objects (or other people). At top speed, the force of these impacts can easily cause severe injuries and potentially even death.
The source of the sudden and unexpected stopping of the Onewheel appears to be a malfunction of what is intended to be a safety feature. When the Onewheel starts moving too fast or pushing the motor too hard, the device is supposed to give the rider “pushback” – this is supposed to involve the nose of the Onewheel forcing itself up to slow the motor down.
The problem is that on a growing number of occasions, the Onewheel pushback function has not been triggered correctly. Instead of pushing back and slowing down the motor gradually, the device simply shuts off completely causing it to nosedive forward. This occurs randomly and is triggered by various factors, including the rider’s size and weight, the tire pressure, battery level, and how the rider is balanced. Predicting when the nosedive will happen is impossible, which makes it even more hazardous.
Most pushback nosedives on the Onewheel occurred due to excessive speeds on the device. However, another form of pushback can be triggered suddenly if the battery on the device is getting low. This pushback purportedly alerts riders by elevating the nose dramatically. When the Onewheel purportedly senses that the batteries are about to be damaged by over-depletion, the board will shut off entirely, leaving the rider suddenly and unexpectedly off-balance, often resulting in the rider being thrown from the board.
Public Safety Warning
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) issued a public safety warning about the danger of the Onewheel in November of 2022. The CPSC warning advised consumers to stop using the Onewheel completely, due to the potential safety risk posed by the pushback and nosedive issue. According to the initial public notice from the CPSC, Future Motion had voluntarily agreed to some sort of safety recall. It is not clear, however, whether that even actually happened.
Future Motion Pushes Back Against the CPSC
On November 16, 2022, a public safety notification was released by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), cautioning consumers about the hazards associated with certain self-balancing electric skateboards. This announcement pointed to potential dangers in using these devices.
Contrary to taking corrective action to address the highlighted concerns, the company behind the skateboards responded with resistance. It challenged the CPSC’s advisory, insisting that their products were, overall, safe for use. The company took to social media platforms like TikTok to disseminate their counter-message. Their CEO characterized the skateboards as being “misunderstood” rather than inherently hazardous.
In a pronounced rebuttal, the company’s representatives critiqued the CPSC’s recommendation for a recall. They argued that the CPSC had not pinpointed a specific defect within the skateboards. A company spokesperson articulated their stance through a video statement, suggesting that the federal agency was overreaching in its efforts to mandate a recall of all units ever sold. They pushed back, refusing to comply with the recall.
The same video post went on to challenge the CPSC, accusing the agency of failing to recognize any particular technical issue with the skateboards. Overall, the company seemed to be selectively addressing the CPSC’s points while attempting to deflect the central issues raised by the commission.
OneWheel Recall
In late September 2023, the CPSC had had enough. Its recall stated:
“Future Motion has received dozens of reports of incidents involving the electric skateboards, including four reported deaths between 2019 and 2021 and injuries such as traumatic brain injury, concussion, paralysis, upper body fractures, lower-body fractures and ligament damage. The reported deaths resulted from head trauma and, in at least three of those incidents, the rider was not wearing a helmet. Future Motion and the CPSC encourage all riders to wear personal protective equipment while riding.”
The notice warned people to immediately stop using the skateboards, which can “stop balancing the rider if the boards’ limits are exceeded, posing a crash hazard that can result in serious injury or death.”
Future Motion announced a firmware update, known as “haptic buzz,” which will be available for several of its products. This feature provides riders with an audible and tactile alert to caution them in scenarios that could potentially lead to a crash.
The update is scheduled for release in the coming weeks. However, it will only be applicable to the Onewheel GT, Pint X, Pint, and XR models. The original Onewheel and Onewheel+ skateboards are not included in this update.
Onewheel Injury Lawsuits
Over the last year, and especially following the CPSC public safety warning, a rising number of Onewheel injury lawsuits have been filed against Future Motion across the country. The plaintiffs in these lawsuits are Onewheel riders who were seriously injured when their Onewheel suddenly stopped and threw them off the device. The lawsuits claim that the nosedive is the result of a negligent design defect and, therefore, Future Motion should be liable for any resulting injuries caused by the defect.
Onewheel Class Action Lawsuit
The Onewheel injury lawsuits in federal courts are going to be consolidated into a new class action MDL very soon. A motion has already been filed by a group of Onewheel injury plaintiffs asking the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to create a new MDL. When that motion was filed, there were 31 Onewheel injury cases pending across the country, all making similar factual and legal allegations.
Surprisingly, Future Motion filed a response in which it actually agreed that a class action MDL should be established for all Onewheel injury lawsuits. The only real question is what federal court the Onewheel MDL should be assigned to. Future Motion is asking that the MDL be located in the Middle District of Florida. Future Motion claims that the reason for this is that most of the pending cases are already located there, but it probably has more to do with strategic preferences.
Who Can File a Onewheel Injury Lawsuit?
Anyone who was seriously injured while riding a Onewheel device (whether they owned it or not) because the device stopped unexpectedly, throwing them off, is eligible to file a Onewheel personal injury lawsuit.
Settlement Value of Onewheel Injury Lawsuits
It is very difficult to give a universal estimate for the potential settlement amounts of the Onewheel injury lawsuits.
In most other mass tort product liability lawsuits, the plaintiffs usually all have the same or very similar injury types. That is not the case with the Onewheel lawsuits. The plaintiffs in the Onewheel lawsuits will have a wide range of physical injuries of all different types and levels of severity. So guessing settlement compensation payouts is near impossible at this stage to the litigation. The fact that injuries are case specific makes it that much harder.
So why even estimate OneWheel settlement numbers? Our lawyers think victims should know what the range of our guess as long as they understand that it is speculation at this point.
The range of physical injuries involved in the Onewheel lawsuits will be somewhat comparable to the range of injuries that you could potentially see in an auto accident case. Based on what we know about the value range of auto accident injury cases, and assuming that the Onewheel claims are viable, we can give an estimated settlement value range based on the severity level of the injuries.
Our lawyers think that Onewheel injury plaintiffs with the top-level injuries (e.g., traumatic brain injuries, permanent disabilities, etc.) could see settlement payouts in the range of $300,000 to $750,000 if these lawsuits are successful. You would expect the wrongful death lawsuits – we know of at least four deaths – to be even higher.
Plaintiffs with lower-level injuries (e.g., concussions, soft tissue injuries, etc.) could see OneWheel settlement amounts between of $30,000 to $100,000. Mid-level injuries like broken bones, or herniated discs will fall somewhere in between.
Hire a Onewheel Injury Lawyer
Our product liability lawyers are currently accepting Onewheel injury cases from individuals who meet our eligibility criteria. If you were injured by a Onewheel electric skateboard device, call our office today at 800-553-8082 or contact us online.