The Consumer Product Safety Commission believes the Peloton Tread + poses a serious risk to children and urges consumers with children to stop using it. Ethan Miller / Getty Images Hide caption
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Ethan Miller / Getty Images
The Consumer Product Safety Commission believes the Peloton Tread + poses a serious risk to children and urges consumers with children to stop using it.
Ethan Miller / Getty Images
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission warned owners of the popular Peloton Tread + exercise machine after “several incidents involving young children and a pet under the machines were injured.”
The warning comes weeks after Peloton CEO John Foley said a child died in a machine-related accident. “While we are aware of only a small handful of incidents involving the Tread + that have injured children, everyone in Peloton is devastating and our hearts go out to the families affected,” he said in a statement.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission then initiated an investigation into the treadmill, which, according to the commission, has not yet been completed. The Commission is so far aware of 38 other security incidents, none of which resulted in death.
The Commission believes the Peloton Tread + “presents a serious risk to children of abrasion, breakage and death” resulting from “children being trapped, stuck and pulled under the rear roller of the product”.
The announcement included video of a child who appeared to be pulled under the treadmill while playing behind the machine.
The CPSC advises children with children at home to stop using the Peloton Tread + treadmill immediately, saying that the danger posed by the machine “cannot be avoided simply by locking the device when not in use”.
“Peloton has not yet agreed to a recall or stop-sale,” said Joe Martyak, spokesman for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, to NPR. He continued, “We hope that will change.”
Consumer product recalls are usually voluntary by companies in collaboration with the government.
In response to the CPSC statement, Peloton described the Commission’s warning as “imprecise and misleading”.
“Like all motorized exercise machines, the Tread + can pose a hazard if warnings and cautions are not followed,” the company said. In response to further questions from NPR about a possible recall, a company spokesman replied, “A recall was never warranted.”
“The Peloton Tread + is safe when operated as directed and in accordance with the warnings and cautions,” the spokesman continued. “The CPSC press release urges consumers to take steps to ensure that children, pets and belongings are kept away from the Tread +. These are exactly the warnings Peloton is providing and encouraging members to follow.”
