" alt="" title=""/>Exercise equipment company Peloton is recalling over 125,000 treadmills in the US and UK.
That announcement comes within a month after the company denied the treadmills were dangerous and said it would not take them off the market despite being linked to the deaths of one child and the injuries of 29 others.
Earlier this year, a 6-year-old child died after being pulled under his treadmill. Around the same time, a 3-year-old suffered head injuries after being trapped under a peloton treadmill.
The company called it a “tragic accident” and the CEO posted a letter assuring that his company cares about the health and wellbeing of its customers.
In a statement, Peloton apologized for not acting swiftly to resolve the problem after reports of one death and dozens of injuries.
“I want to make it clear that Peloton made a mistake in our first response to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s request to recall the Tread +,” CEO John Foley said in a statement on Wednesday. “We should have been more productive with them from the start. I apologize for that. “
How should a machine make people healthy and become a threat to their lives?
It turns out that Peloton’s treadmills are not ordinary and can be connected to virtual fitness classes. They come with fancy touch screens.
The product was first called Tread, but is now known as Tread + as Peloton prepared to sell a cheaper version in the US later this year. The original model is priced at $ 4,300.
Unlike most treadmills, Peloton machines have a large gap between the floor and the belt, leaving enough room for injuries and mishaps.
Pets and objects have been pulled under the treadmill for the past few months. That was something – no one saw it coming. When the pandemic broke out, Peloton’s treadmills turned into anger. They provided everything you needed to keep fit at home.
In 2020, Peloton had sales of $ 1.8 billion up to $ 915 million year over year.
As orders skyrocketed, the company struggled with supplies. Soon the treadmill’s touchscreen began to loosen.
In at least 6 cases, they fell off the profile, injured people and damaged the company’s reputation.
Peloton’s CEO now says his company made a mistake by not recalling the treadmills sooner.
The peloton reportedly lost $ 4 billion in market value in one day.
