Peloton has recalled over two million of its famed exercise bikes due to a risk of the seat post breaking. The company has told its customers to immediately stop using the bikes until they can be fixed.
The New York Times reported, “The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and the fitness company Peloton today issued a voluntary recall of some 2.2 million original Peloton Bikes (model PL-01) sold in the US between January 2018 and May 2023.
The recall stems from concerns surrounding a seat post that can break during use, possibly leading to falls and injury. Peloton has identified 35 reports of broken seat posts so far, including 13 reports of related injuries such as ‘a fractured wrist, lacerations and bruises due to falling from the bike,’ according to the CPSC.
The CPSC advises owners to ‘immediately stop’ using recalled Peloton Bikes. Owners of a recalled Peloton Bike can now request a free seat post replacement.
In an email, a Peloton representative said that 2,160,000 original Bikes have been sold in the US since 2018. Impacted models can be identified by labeling near the flywheel, on the bike’s frame where a red ‘P’ logo is followed by ‘Peloton’ in white lettering and the bike’s non-swivel display. The recall does not affect the Peloton Bike+, nor does it affect Peloton original Bikes sold in Australia, Germany, and the UK. (The company said that it is ‘in discussions on this issue with the regulator in Canada and will have an update for our Members in Canada within the coming days.’)
A Peloton spokesperson said that the new seat post can be installed at home (video) without the need for a service call. Only one seat post replacement will be offered for each Peloton original Bike. Peloton recommends checking your local municipality’s recycling guidance for disposal options for metal parts related to the old seat post.
This is not the first time that Peloton has been found to have shoddy and dangerous equipment. Earlier in the year, Peloton paid a $19 million fine after it failed, NPR noted, “to quickly notify regulators of a known defect in its Tread+ exercise machines. The company also knowingly sold the defective treadmills.
In the case with its treadmill, Peloton received more than 150 reports of incidents involving people, pets or objects getting injured or killed by the time the company reported the problems to regulators.”
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