You should stop using Peloton's Tread+ if you have pets or children

Peloton’s connected treadmill, the Tread+, is not safe to keep in your home around young children, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The problem seems to be that the Tread+ has minimal safety precautions, especially in terms of how easy it is for a small human to crawl beneath the treadmill and end up getting injured.

(Content warning: The video below is graphic in nature.)

At least one child has already been killed by the Peloton treadmill’s lax safety features; the CPSC says it has been investigating that incident and 39 other reports of injury caused by the exercise device. While those investigations are still ongoing, CPSC has ruled that the Tread+ poses enough of a risk to consumers’ families that the public needed to be informed immediately.

“In light of multiple reports of children becoming entrapped, pinned, and pulled under the rear roller of the product, CPSC urges consumers with children at home to stop using the product immediately,” the agency writes in its report.

Peloton claims the device is totally safe for use around young children. The company has no plans to recall it. Yikes.

Lock it away — If you have a Tread+ and young children or pets, the CPSC recommends getting rid of the Tread+ as soon as possible. If you’re not willing to give up your new Tread+ and also want to keep your children safe, the CPSC recommends keeping the treadmill in a locked room. The agency also says it’s best to keep it unplugged and stowed away whenever it’s not in use.

Peloton’s not having it — Peloton did not react with much sympathy to the news of its product injuring (and killing) children. The company’s CEO, John Foley, sent an email to Tread+ owners this morning clarifying that the Tread+ is “safe when our warnings and safety instructions are followed.” He also specifies that the company will not be recalling the Tread+ or halting sales of it. Foley also reminds Tread+ users to “stay vigilant” by keeping children and pets away from the device at all times.

Safety second — Peloton has enjoyed enormous success in the past year, as gyms have shuttered their doors due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s exercise gear has sold so well, in fact, that Peloton has spent about $100 million alleviating delivery backlogs.

For this reason, it’s all the more disheartening that Peloton doesn’t seem to be taking the safety problems of its newer products very seriously. Children are quite literally being sucked under the Tread+, and the best the company’s CEO could come up with is maybe you should do a better job of watching your kids.

Peloton claims safety is always a priority. Its response to the CPSC’s intense warnings suggests otherwise.