Alabama Man's Hoverboard Explodes Under Him, Complicating Safety Debate
A hot gift item keeps giving us reasons for concern.
An Alabama man by geography became a Florida man in spirit when he claimed his hoverboard exploded under him, just three days after buying it. Timothy Cade claims he has no idea what caused the Amazon purchase to self-destruct and that he had been careful about charging it properly and was under the weight limit.
“Batteries started shooting out of it; you would not expect a fire like that to come out of a little thing like that. I was not expecting something like that,” Cade told WKRG. “I was yelling my mom’s name, and she ran out with some baking soda because I didn’t know what to put on that type of fire.”
The boards, which do not actually hover, have triggered public health debate over the last few months. Considered a danger to pedestrians as well as their operators, they were banned by New York City under threat of a $200 penalty. The chief problem, explosions aside, is that people crash into something stationary there’s nothing to hold onto. Thud.
It’s fitting there are so many concerns over safety as they become hot gifts this holiday season, considering Back to the Future director pranked us all back in the ‘80s by claiming real hoverboards were kept secret by parent groups worried they would splatter us all over the sidewalk. Just consider this another Zemeckis prophecy come true. Cold comfort for Cubs fans.
