The article describes the scooter suddenly stopping operation and throwing riders off. It's not just scooting being dangerous generally, but a specific product flaw.
Major caveat though: nearly all reputable Electric Unicycles (what I switched to) use a supercap for emergency power and can pull you out of almost anything. FM is too cheap/stubborn/unknown to do the same.
Furthermore, EUCs generally have a speaker and can make audible alerts when you approach the limit. OneWheel pushback can sometimes be really ambiguous, and can be missed. EUC apps also generally vibrate or something during these events. The same can't be said for FM.
The big issue recently has been the OneWheel GT, a.k.a. Ground Torpedo. The foot sensor "ghosts" and causes the board to miss disengagement from the rider. This results in the board careening off (at 35mph) into whatever/whoever is in front of it. The last I saw was one having made a good bend in a wrought iron fence. FM has generally denied that it is a widespread issue. I suspect it's the Ground Torpedo that has cast so much attention towards FM.
The last nail in the coffin (which has nothing to do with the CPSC issue) is that FM are aggressively anti-right-to-repair. The Ground Torpedo has volatile RAM in the Battery Management System that bricks the device if it loses power (due to self repair, or even complete discharge). The claim is that people are installing inferior batteries, the irony is that it is FM who install cheap crap.
Don't buy a OneWheel. Fuck Future Motion.
Luckily I had “fangs” on it that are a set of small wheels you can add to the front. That bought me the time to fall correctly and all I ended up with was a severely skinned arm.
It should always have enough power to go “whoa, you’re trying to go too fast” and gradually slow you down while keeping the front up.
Mine’s been collecting dust and I’ve been meaning to sell it. I’m assuming that’ll be pretty difficult now.
This also means if you run out of battery power the nose will just drop on you.
It does seems possible the CPSC is noting an actual product glitch. If the microprocessors aren't hardened for it or using redundant chips, then it'd be possible for them to bit flip occasionally. Among many other possible design flaws.
They are objectively safer so far as the forwards/backwards balance goes. The theory is that it's all around safer because of the psychological effect of the steep learning curve. You do still want a motorbike helmet and BMX/skating pads (the community is way more pro-safety, which is nice). You'll need to try soft-sole and hard-sole shoes, one of the two will be unusable for you due to foot/sole fatigue. Once you get to mid-tier, you generally see incrementally more biker gear.
You don't look as cool on it. It doesn't have the same emotional impact. It is way more fun.
You could also look at electric skateboards or scooters.
I did find the Trotter MAGWheel T3 as an alternative, but it reviews badly from its "prototype without any polish" experience in use.
It sucks that there seemingly does not exist a good alternative to OneWheel, other than changing to a different product category entirely. I wish we can get to see some true competition in the one-wheeled skateboard category soon.
I went with an ebike for my neighborhood 'runner' (i don't currently commute).
The motor is at maximum power and speed when this happens.
I sent it in and they fixed it. This is their explanation which I don't know that I fully believe:
Our engineers completed the repairs on your board! They found that the power button had broken which led to damage to the controller circuit board. Both have been replaced under warranty for you. After your board passed our post-op testings it was picked up by FedEx!
Firstly, sure pushback seems like it is noticeable but is it really instinctual to push less when something starts pushing back? A counterforce is good at preventing someone from moving something, but I'm not too sure if it's good at preventing them from trying.
Secondly, I have my doubts about a system of transportation that cannot slow down without throwing off its rider. I mean the automatic balancing is a fun trick, but it's somewhat concerning when the only response it has in case of problems of insufficient power is to accelerate even more and when that doesn't work it does a nose dive resulting in what looks like a sudden stop.
i love riding it. but it has happened a few times, and only takes once for you to not trust it
if an e-bike shuts off, you slow down. when a single wheel dies, you fall down
But I've got decades of board riding experience that has taught me to keep my center of mass over the top of the board. This is an important skill to deal with unexpected bumps on snowboards and skateboards as well. Even when the board stops due to colliding with an object I've still got a decent chance of running it out.