Google-owned Fitbit will pay a $12.25 million fine over problems with its Ionic smartwatch. The company recalled 1.7 million of these devices in 2022 after numerous reports of batteries overheating and users being burned.
Image source: fitbit.com
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has preliminarily approved the fine agreement with the company. Previously, the regulator, together with Fitbit, organized a recall of 1.7 million Ionic devices after 115 complaints were received about the batteries overheating. In 78 cases, this resulted in burns, including two cases of third degree and four cases of second degree, The Verge reports.
Despite numerous complaints from 2018 to 2020, Fitbit did not immediately report the problem to the Commission, although it did release a firmware update in 2020 in an attempt to resolve the issue, and as the agency noted, “Fitbit did not immediately report the problem to the Commission as required.” law”.
It is noted that despite the fact that only the Ionic model affected the review, users say that other Fitbit devices have similar problems. In 2023, a collective lawsuit was filed against Google. It claims that all the brand devices have problems with batteries, which creates a risk of overheating, fire and burns. The complaint also states that Fitbit tried to shift the fault for malfunctions to “user hygiene” and ignored customer appeals who reported problems.
As part of the settlement of the issue, the company pledged to introduce internal control mechanisms in order to guarantee compliance of all devices with the requirements of the consumer security law.