Last November, the folks behind the Boosted electric skateboard urged its customers to stop using their second-gen boards following battery "venting" until an internal investigation was complete. It turns out that those problems were the result of a short-circuit caused by water entering the battery -- not from issues with the power packs themselves. As a precaution, the company has reported the issue to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, is starting a voluntary recall of the standard range battery packs and will no longer market the board as water resistant.
Previously it'd been classified as IPX5 (resistant to immersion from water jets), but we now know how that turned out. "We discovered that after prolonged and repeated exposure to water, the board's subsystems can be compromised in a way that affects water safety, and that the IP standard for water resistance is not a sufficient test in these conditions," a blog post reads. The company has a few plans in place to make it up to its customers.
First, is the recall. Remove the battery from your board, jot down both the board and the battery's serial numbers and then take the latter to a recycling center. From there, get a receipt of disposal and attach it to the battery replacement form. Submit it and Boosted will give you an estimate of when to expect your new battery. Alternatively, you can return the entire board (or cancel your reservation) for a full refund.
If you plan to keep it around and not zip through any puddles you won't be left out, either. The company is going to give you a $200 credit that can be used toward future purchases from its website.
What's more, existing orders for the Dual will start shipping March 20th, with Dual+ orders shipping February 20th. New orders will leave the factory a week later on March 27th.