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United States Technology

Recall of Segway Announced by CPSC 569

Posted by michael from the safety-first dept.
mshiltonj writes "The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a voluntary recall of the Segway human transporter. The hazard is that under certain operating conditions, particularly when the batteries are near the end of charge, some Segway HTs may not deliver enough power, allowing the rider to fall. This can happen if the rider speeds up abruptly, encounters an obstacle, or continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert."
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Recall of Segway Announced by CPSC More

Recall of Segway Announced by CPSC

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  • That explains the Shrub... (Score:5, Funny)

    by gokubi ( 413425 ) * on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:27PM (#7065563) Homepage
    some Segway HTs may not deliver enough power, allowing the rider to fall. This can happen if the rider speeds up abruptly, encounters an obstacle, or continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert.

    or if the rider is fresh from a tennis match with Poppy, rushing to an appointment to bomb some unsuspecting nation back to the stone age [bbc.co.uk].

    • Re:That explains the Shrub... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Gibble ( 514795 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:30PM (#7065599) Homepage
      But this is a guy who nearly died from a pretzel...so you can hardly blame the segway if he fell.

    • Re:That explains the Shrub... (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:39PM (#7065726)
      "The machine's creator, Dean Kamen, wants to see US Special Forces troops eventually ride Segways into battle."

      That would only toughen their image, I'm sure.
    • or consider mocking the President or laugh when someone else mocks the President or even think of laughing when someone else mocks the President, then the terrorists win. You're giving aid and comfort to America's enemies. Now just step away from the computer and wait for your Guantanamo relocation expert who will be there shortly.
      • Oh come on now. Seriously, remember these:

        - Bush Sr. puking on the Japanese Prime Minister
        - Bush and the Bracholi
        - Carter's peaunut farmer/ brewer brother
        - That dress, wearing guy (Roosevelt?)
        - Quayle and the spelling, or bumping the panic alarm (so the secret service freaks out)
        - etc.

        It's part of what makes this country great, being able to make fun of one's leaders.
      • consider mocking the President or laugh when someone else mocks the President or even think of laughing when someone else mocks the President, then the terrorists win.

        I'm Canadian, you insensitive clod! I'm allowed to laugh at US Presidents! ...And your current one is the best in years! ;-)

    • Re:That explains the Shrub... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      remember kids that the majority of americans & the congress & senate voted to go after iraq...also bush isn't the 1st or only one who said iraq had wmd and saddam was a threat...remember these?

      "One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line."
      President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998

      "If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the t
      • also bush isn't the 1st or only one who said iraq had wmd and saddam was a threat

        Well, DUH!

        Nobody ever doubted that Iraq had had WMD in the past, and virtually nobody doubted that the threat of force was necessary to induce Iraq to eliminate their WMD. The entire debate was whether Iraq had WMD mobilized and ready to use at the time of the invasion, posing such an urgent and immediate threat that it was necessary for the US to execute a pre-emptive strike, instead of cooperating with the international

  • Their own dumbass fault (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Gibble ( 514795 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:28PM (#7065569) Homepage
    If you continue to ride after the low battery alert, it's your own dumbass fault if you get hurt.

    It's like saying it's Fords fault your engine died because you didn't check your oil.
    • This can happen if the rider speeds up abruptly, encounters an obstacle, or continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert.

      Sounds like Segways just dont work.

      Still, if you were stupid enough to plunk down that much coin on a scooter, you deserve what you get.
      • This is a tricky sentence and I'm not sure how to parse it. I am sure that there are three things that can cause the problem. But what exactly are those three things? Me thinks it goes like this:

        This can happen if the rider:
        1. speeds up abruptly,
        2. encounters an obstacle, or
        3. continues to ride
        ...after receiving a low-battery alert.

        Now this would explain the problem. The question is the whether the last item is "continues to ride" or "continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert".

    • I ususally agree with the stupid user argument (I'm a UNIX sysadmin :), but in both cases you mention the driver is not thrown from the vehicle. Also, if you were going down the street, you were half way to your destination, and you got the low battery light, would you just hop off or keep going until it died? I know what I would do.

    • Re:Their own dumbass fault (Score:4, Insightful)

      by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:42PM (#7065748) Journal
      These are being marketed as tools for the elderly and others, as an untippable, safe alternative to a wheelchair.

      It isnt so much that they can tip over, but the fact that they're not supposed to.

    • Re:Their own dumbass fault (Score:5, Insightful)

      by tessaiga ( 697968 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:45PM (#7065780)
      If you continue to ride after the low battery alert, it's your own dumbass fault if you get hurt. It's like saying it's Fords fault your engine died because you didn't check your oil.
      How often does your engine oil require refilling? And how far can you go on an engine with low oil?

      How about a Segway battery?

      There's a much bigger margin for error on the car. A better analogy would be, wouldn't they recall cars if your car steering and brakes failed every time the "low gas" indicator went on.

      • a better comparison (Score:4, Insightful)

        by kaan ( 88626 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @03:07PM (#7066649)
        A better analogy would be, wouldn't they recall cars if your car steering and brakes failed every time the "low gas" indicator went on.

        You're almost there. The equivalent situation for a dead Segway battery would be a gasoline engine with no gasoline.

        I've been (un)fortunate enough to run out of gas in a car as well as while riding a motorcycle, and I can tell you when you're out of gas in either one (especially if you're in a freeway situation, which I was lucky enough to be in while riding a nearly-empty motorcycle) it is completely unsafe. No gas, no power. No power means you can't keep up, and suddenly the 5-10 feet between you and the other cars seems way too close. So if I, as a driver, am too careless/stupid/whatever enough to ignore the gas light and keep driving, how the hell could I make any claim that it's the auto manufacturer's fault if I get plowed into by other freeway traffic? I think this is similar to the Segway situation, because they're giving you a warning alert, so it becomes a discretionary issue with the individual.

        I'm curious to know what Segway intends to do with the units that are sent back for the recall. My guess is that they'll simply modify the Segway to shut down if the battery is low.
    • If you continue to drive your car when the low gas light comes on, you're not going to get hurt.

      The low battery light on the Segway should come on when there is still sufficient power for you to travel a reasonable distance to recharge it. Kinda like how when the low gas light on your car comes on, you don't have to get out and push it to a gas station.
    • Or if you get burnt from pouring hot coffee in your lap?

      Oh wait, she won that suit.. :)

      This is america, common sence in these matters dont always apply.. And we are 'sue-happy'.

  • Oh well... (Score:5, Funny)

    by evel aka matt ( 123728 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:28PM (#7065572)
    It looks like there's going to be 3 very dissapointed people out there.
    • According to what I've read, there's been 3 injuries. I guess ALL THREE owners got hurt, prompting the recall.

      100% injury rate. Not good for business.

      • Yes, it does stand to reason that ALL THREE injured owners got hurt, if three out of three of them did.

        Also, a 100% injury rate would be "ride a Segway, get injured".

        Perhaps you meant to say something else?

  • Seriously, though, this is a problem with most vehicles when they run out of fuel/charge. No battery guage on a Segway, I assume or just user error?

  • size? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Lxy ( 80823 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:29PM (#7065578) Journal
    Does this have anything to do with the size of the rider? If you continually fall off your Segway, maybe it's just a sign to GET OFF AND WALK for awhile.

  • $30M! (Score:5, Informative)

    by JohnGrahamCumming ( 684871 ) * <slashdot@ j g c . o rg> on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:29PM (#7065587) Homepage Journal
    Perhaps the most interesting thing in this recall is that it provides information
    about the total number of Segway's out there: 6,000. Given that Amazon [amazon.com]
    sells them about $5,000 that means that there are $30M of Segways out there.
    Of course many were probably sold below that price and Segway LLC will be sharing
    that with the retailer, but still not bad for scooter.

    Second, interesting thing is that the problem is fixed by a *software upgrade*
    and not something physical.

    John.
    • Well duh, they always have to play for the lowest common denominator[1]. So what they will do is make it so that you can't ride it after the batteries get too low.

      [1]see: ID 10T

    • Software upgrades fix many problems (Score:5, Interesting)

      by EDA Wizard ( 2225 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:46PM (#7065794)
      I don't find it interesting that a software upgrade fixes the problem.

      Software upgrades are the cheapest fix for any system problem. This is why they are almost always required by devices. We (companies, not specifically Segway) can ship products early with solid hardware and must less solid software because the cost of fixing problems in software are so minimal.

      This software fix probably just shuts down the scooter earlier before the battery runs all the way out. A few cars do the same with gas so that people are driving at 70mph don't loose power breaks and stearing when the engine starts studdering.

      Hardware fixes can often cost more then direct replacement of the product. A simple printer circuit board rework could cost $50 each to just disassemble a product, cut a trace and reassemble it. That doesn't include the cost to ship the product back to the manufacture or to a rework house somewhere in the US.

      Flash is cheap and almost all companies use it to fix sw problems in the field and work around hardware problems.

    • I would guess the software upgrade watches for the battery to get below a certain level and then prevents it from running at all. At least that's the simplest solution - and it may be that it was already included, but the setting was too low. For example, on their test courses with experienced riders they could skillfully handle stopping on a low battery level, but Joe Segway-Buyer keeps riding full throttle no matter what.

  • [OT] Please help... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I am a fisherman, and I fish out in the North Sea, near oil-rigs. I mainly fish for crabs but generally sell anything I catch. On my small boat is a laptop with Linux installed, which is running open source software for controlling the electronical fishing rods, which hauntingly swing and sway above the cold blue surface of the sea.

    While I find being able to administer my fiashing rods from the powerful BASH shell both efficient, safe and empowering, this software has a bug which causes a huge 20 farad cap

  • That reminds me... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:30PM (#7065604)
    As the great philosopher xterm [bash.org] once wrote,

    <xterm> The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?
    • Or as Larry Niven would say, "Think of it as evolution in action."

    • Re:That reminds me... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by danila ( 69889 )
      Everyone makes mistakes. Hell, just a few minutes ago I got an ICQ from my sister, who was frightened by the noises her CD drive was making. Well, it turned out she put a second disk there without taking the first one out. :) She isn't stupid, she knows very well CD drives don't work with 2 disks, she knows they don't work with floppies either, she knows how to burn CDs, etc.

      She just didn't notice that because the computer is under her table.

      That's why it's important to design fool-proof products. Not b

  • Imagery (Score:5, Funny)

    by Improv ( 2467 ) <pgunn01@gmail.com> on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:31PM (#7065608) Homepage Journal
    I love the imagery involved in this..
    *VROOM* *VROOM* *put* *put* *put* *creeeeek* *thump* OW!

    Heh

  • All these rich people falling on their faces (Score:5, Funny)

    by digitalgimpus ( 468277 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:31PM (#7065610) Homepage
    Damn. Nobody ever recalled a poor boy's bicycle because it fall sideways when the riders energy runs out.

  • No Duh, the device is unstable (Score:5, Informative)

    by nweaver ( 113078 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:33PM (#7065641) Homepage
    The Solution in Search of a Problem that is the Segway is inherantly unstable, and has to burn power just to stand still (balancing at an unstable equilibrium point).

    That when the power starts to drain, the device becomes unstable (as the motors no longer have enough power to keep it upright after a mild upset) is hardly suprising, and indicitive of the fundimentally stupid design (but fantastic engineering) that is the segway.
    • Bicycles are unstable too.

      In other news...

      "The CPSC has announced a voluntary recall of all bicycles. The hazard is that under certain operating conditions, particularly when the bicycle isn't moving, the lack of angular momentum to stabilize the device allows the rider to fall. This can happen if the rider slows down abruptly."
      • When moving, a bicycle is inherantly stable, as there are two aligned gyroscopes keeping it going forward. It's only unstable when not moving or nearly not moving. Even when stopped, it is only ustable perpendicular to the direction of motion.

        The segway, on the other hand, is ALWAYS unstable along the axis of motion, and the farther you get away from the stable point, the more force it takes to bring it back to being stable.

  • In other news: (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dark Lord Seth ( 584963 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:34PM (#7065653) Journal
    This can happen if the rider speeds up abruptly, encounters an obstacle, or continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert.

    Toyota recalled all cars manafactured since the start of the company. Under certain circumstances, when speeding up, ignoring a warning about a cliff and not braking, the car might fall down from a great heigth and kill the occupants. According to Hiyasuka Miamoto, official Toyota spokesperson, the recall will be effective immediately and no new cars will be produced "untill people stop being so fucking stupid!".

    Moral of the story; warnings are called warnings for a reason.

    • ". . . no new cars will be produced "untill people stop being so fucking stupid!"."

      So they're having a going out of business sale?

      KFG
    • Assumption of risk is no defense. It used to be, but courts have forgone the doctrine because people are just too stupid to knowingly (that's the magic word) assume a risk, whether it be assuming the risk of injury by smoking cigarettes or by playing russian roulette with an "empty" gun. People need to be protected from themselves, and making everything idiotproof and banning that which cannot be made idiotproof is the only way to save people. Human life come first, because human lives pay taxes, and hea

  • Let'em walk! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by mr_resident ( 222932 )
    As much as I love seeing rich people fall on their faces, I hate seeing technology fail because of poor testing.

    Why didn't this come up before now? Because ravenous marketing monsters couldn't wait to start selling "THE NEXT BIG THING".

    Even if they were reasonably priced, I can't see what they're really good for anyway. They're too fast for sidewalks, too slow for streets and let the world know you've got more money than sense!
  • So, I'm riding along on my self powered segway that battery powered gyros to keep itself upright and I get a low battery warning and I ignore it. Then I get all upset when the thing pitches me off like a ragdoll to test the local dirt.

    Hmm, I think that S in CPSC should be for Stupidity...

    Note to stupid people... Firstly, if you've got too much money, I can help you with this problem ;-)
    Secondly, I highly recommend you never get fitted with a pace maker... as you expire your dying words will be something
  • Okay, so hopefully the next generation of Segways will have a little USB port so you can do your own firmware updating.
  • They need to put airbags on those things - someone could get hurt!
  • Units: Approximately 6,000

    That's pretty sad given the original estimates from a few years ago.

  • I just heard some sad news on talk radio - revolutionary personal transportation system/overpriced, underpowered gimmick the Segway Human Transporter was found dead at the Consumer Product Safety Commission this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss it - even if you didn't buy it or buy into the hype about it, there's no denying^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H it's easy to deny its contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

  • Society gets dumber by the minute (Score:5, Funny)

    by Daimaou ( 97573 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:38PM (#7065713)
    In other news, bicycles around the world have been voluntarily recalled. It seems that if the rider stops moving their feet, the bike could potentially tip over. A minor flaying of the skin has also been reported to occur during such accidents.
    • Well, the point is that the Segway is supposed to do all the balancing for you.

      Honestly, the first time I saw Segway I thought, "What happens when you're chugging up a hill and the batteries give out?" It's inherently unstable, unlike a bicycle there is no gyroscopic force to aid the rider in maintaining balance.

      The software upgrade probably just gives the Segway less optimism about its battery life, providing a more aggressive alert when the battery reaches a certain level.

      • Re:Society gets dumber by the minute (Score:5, Informative)

        by kfg ( 145172 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @02:11PM (#7065990)
        To be fair to the parent poster at the point the bicycle falls over from lack of speed it too has no gyroscopic forces to aid the rider.

        That's one of the reasons it falls over, because it is inherently unstable.

        His point stands.

        (Of course there are courses of action a cyclist can take to prevent falling over. I can stay essentially motionless on a bicycle for an arbitrary amount of time. It's easier on a track bike which has direct drive like a child's tricycle. Rider skill can be substituted for gyroscopic effect, which on a bicycle is really minimal even at speed. The castor effect is far stronger, as is just plain "body English" since the rider's weight exerts much greater force than the gyroscopic forces. Thinking of a unicycle can give a better intuitive idea of this, as they never operate at enough speed for gyroscopic effects to have any import, and if you stop pedaling they fall right over, because they are inherently unstable. Yes, I'm a bit of an expert in the field, a frame building, racing physicist who's first real research project was on the stability of bicycles and currently works on human powered machinery)

        KFG
    • This is nothing like your bike example. On a bike you know that it is going to tip over when you stop. W/ the segway there is a possibility that if you press the acceleration the thing will die even w/out a warning light! They are obviously setting the "warning light" to go on way too late, hitting the acceleration shouldn't make the thing die ever w/out a warning.

  • For something as expensive and computer dependant as the segway, they should have an easy an inexpensive way to distribute customer-installable "patches"

  • Don 't blame the users.... (Score:5, Funny)

    by EnlightenmentFan ( 617608 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:39PM (#7065723) Homepage Journal
    Pullleez---I'm speeding along the sidewalk, talking on my cellphone, checking my Palm Pilot, and now you expect me to keep an eye on the power indicator too?

    Oops, damn, there goes another pedestrian....

  • Training wheels? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by gothicpoet ( 694573 )
    Maybe they should put training wheels on all of them while they are in recall?

    You know, that started as a joke in my head, but you do have to wonder why they didn't put a small third wheel on there somewhere always touching the ground but on a hing so that it would only actually bear weight if the thing tipped too far.

    Then again, I suppose the market droids couldn't have pushed it so hard as the next big thing if it didn't just have two wheels... Hard to look like an adult when you're basically whizzin

  • It has been determined that people standing, walking and running on floors have fallen for unexplained reasons. Until these reasons can be determined, all floors in the US are being recalled. It is recommended that you do not walk, run or stand on any floor until the cause of this public health hazard can be determined and all floors repaired. Using a floor in this way can cause injury or death.

    Caution is advised whenever you must make contact with any floor. The recomended uses of a floor now include

  • Damn! (Score:3, Funny)

    by GillBates0 ( 664202 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:46PM (#7065798) Homepage Journal
    and my girlfriend broke up with me when both of us fell off the thing. i was only trying to impress her with my l33t segway riding skills :(

    It wasn't my fault honey come backkk :'(

  • and can't get up...

    somebody had to say it
  • I thought this was a feature... people with enough money to buy a $3000 scooter, but not smart enough to stop riding it when a warning light comes on get tossed on their face if they rapidly accellerate or try to drive over a log. What was the problem again? We can only hope that the fix will prevent it from happening only when no camcorder is detected within focal distance.

  • injuries (Score:3, Insightful)

    by falsification ( 644190 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:50PM (#7065833) Journal
    It's important to note that people already have been injured by the scooters. Reuters [reuters.com]
    Segway has received three such reports of riders falling off, including one person who sustained a head injury that required stitches, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the company said in a statement.

    And I don't want anybody to say that we didn't warn you. We sure enough warned you.

    This is not action by a court. This is not a lawsuit. This is action by a governmental regulatory body under George W. Bush. If they are acting under Bush, this must be a humongous problem.

    In my opinion, proper use of a Segway will probably require at least a helmet.

  • Anyone remember the "HYPE" of "GINGER"? Oh my gosh. "Revolutionary", "We're not sure what it is, but it fits in a backpack and is going to change transportation as we know it." Those were phrases on the tips of everyone's tongue a few years ago.

    Once the segway finally was revealed it was a huge downer. So it's a scooter you stand on instead of sit down on. Big deal. I hope we get true innovation someday in the mass transportation sector.
  • I would be interested in knowing how the Segway get's it's software upgrade.

    Perhaps the XBox team could come up with a Linux distro for it.

    Imaging a Beowulf cluster of Segways all rolling down the street in perfect synchrony.
  • because bad things can happen when they run out of fuel, after the operator ignores low fuel warnings.

    Consipiracists sense a Microsoft plot.

    SCO sues someone involved.

    -dB

  • Another reason why bicycles are better. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by cryptochrome ( 303529 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @01:54PM (#7065870) Journal
    Funny what happens when your amazing balancing anti-walking machine runs out of juice. And once you've picked yourself up off your ass/face, you get to lug your 90lb, $5000 machine someplace safe.

    The humble bicycle, as if there was any doubt, clearly reigns supreme in this class of transportation. For getting around town comfortably, get a comfortable bike. For working around the warehouse, get a work bike or trike [workbike.org]. And if you would like the electric assistance without your vehicle becoming useless when the battery runs out, get an electric bike [electric-bikes.com]. It's just that easy people.

    • Re:Another reason why bicycles are better. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by garver ( 30881 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @07:18AM (#7071346)

      Oh, give the segway a break. I think it's pretty damned good for a 1.0 release. Bicycles have had almost 150 years to mature. Remember the first bicycles [google.com] back in the day? How many people do you think we're look at these fools saying "wouldn't it be simpler to just walk?"

      Just getting the segway a decent power supply would make for a vast improvement in stability, durability, and weight.

  • I refer you to this comic [sluggy.com], in which this *very same* flaw in the 'Smegway' is part of an evil plot to take over the world! My god, it's true! But... but... if Sluggy Freelance is ture, then that means Santa is actually an EVIL ALIEN!!! [sluggy.com] AAAAAAHHHHH!!!
  • Many localities require you (or maybe just your children) to wear a helmet when you ride a bike or skate, in order to protect your head from injury. Because people are too stupid or too beautiful to decide to wear a helmet on their own.

    I'm not in favor of pumping more laws out there (100 years from now...people will be reading section 520.C subparagraph 5, sentence 2: "All Segway riders shall be required to wear proper helmets" to which our future friends will say "what the f**k is a Segway?")....so....

    Wh

  • It's not magic (Score:2, Informative)

    by pcp_ip ( 612017 )

    come on people. it's not magic. It's battery powered. you didn't realize when the batteries died the thing would fall over?

  • Translation: (Score:5, Funny)

    by stienman ( 51024 ) <.adavis. .at. .ubasics.com.> on Friday September 26, 2003 @02:00PM (#7065917) Homepage Journal
    The decision we made when we designed the thing was based on the idea that people would stop riding it when the battery low light came on. Since then we've realized a few things:

    1) People treat battery low as "still works under all conditions" as they might if it were a gas tank. But the battery is unable to deliver the instantaneous power needed to go over certian obstacles when partially discharged.
    2) The battery low signal is set too low, since even a mild partial discharge will not supply enough instantaneous power for critical maneuvers.
    3) Li-Ion batteries are dieing in a pattern which we did not expect. The processor needs to assume there is less power available than what it was previously calculating.

    Upshot: The software "upgrade" will give you about 10 minutes of ride time on a full charge before turning on the low battery light, then the alarm. Shortly thereafter the unit will stop in place and use its remaining power simply to stay upright.

    Internal memo: Design an "upgrade" battery pack that doubles the range to 20 minutes! We'll make a killing!

    -Adam
  • I understand they're going to add pedals so that you can assist with the power generation during low-battery situations, and a third wheel for additional backup stability.

    They'll call it the "seg-trike".

  • Oh no (Score:3, Insightful)

    by autopr0n ( 534291 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @02:02PM (#7065931) Homepage Journal
    Clearly, my car needs to be recalled. When I run out of gas, it just stops.

    This could be dangerous on the highway!

  • No wonder Amazon wouldn't give actual numbers... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by EnlightenmentFan ( 617608 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @02:27PM (#7066208) Homepage Journal
    "Segway's Human Transporter, the self-balancing electric scooter that has kept technophiles abuzz for the last two years, ranks among the best-selling items on Amazon.com's Web site, the online retailer said Monday." Anybody else remember claim last December [usatoday.com]?

    According to Wired [wired.com], Kamen had predicted he'd be "stamping out 10,000 machines a week" by the end of 2002.

  • A better fix... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by rarose ( 36450 ) <rob@roGAUSSbamy.com minus math_god> on Friday September 26, 2003 @02:31PM (#7066261)
    Too bad the fix is just a software upgrade... seems like they could add a retractable "nose wheel" that would deploy on low battery situations.

    I mean really... who wants to land their Segway in a full stall anyway?

  • Planning? Common Sense?? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by effer ( 155937 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @02:33PM (#7066295)
    When I leave on a trip, be it short or long, I always check my gas level and make sure my lights, brakes, etc. work. It's common sense.
    Falling off aside, if my battery/alternator is bad and it's a rainy night, it's my own fault if I get stranding in outer Bogonia. Same goes for fuel, brakes, and radiator.
    This issue does point out a flaw with some very reasonable solutions (slow and stop upon low battery or even a third wheel stabilisation to allow the gyros to be turned off-drops/extends from the back).

    Too much fodder for the basshers here.

    "School Paste, it's what's for dinner!"

  • Get a loaner? (Score:4, Funny)

    by greygent ( 523713 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @02:39PM (#7066349) Homepage
    Do all the Segway owners with atrophied leg muscles and rotund asses get a loaner unit while their unit is in for repair?

    It would be simply cruel to expect them to transport themselves under their own muscle power due to a defect in the Segway.

  • Might be the Segway's Achilles' heel... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by dpbsmith ( 263124 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @02:50PM (#7066470) Homepage
    ...hmmm... if the device runs short of power, it sounds as if it can in effect pull your feet out from under you. (Actually, it's falling to push your feet under you). That sounds like a fairly unpleasant and dangerous kind of fall, similar to being tripped.

    On a bicycle, it's easy and natural to take your foot off the pedal and put it on the ground; ditto a scooter. But perhaps it's not so easy when you're standing upright with both feet on the device.

  • What? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by ziggy_zero ( 462010 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @03:09PM (#7066663)
    Recall it because it fails to work if someone keeps going AFTER it gives them a low battery warning???

    That's like saying they should recall cars because you could run out of gas on the highway and die, even though they have a handy gas gauge and some put on a little light to tell you when you're pretty much empty. I don't think they should recall something because of user stupidity.

    Now I'm not a Segway advocate by any means (I think they're ridiculous), but this is stupid.

    Is recall fever spreading?

  • All of which... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cyclist1200 ( 513080 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @03:46PM (#7067036) Homepage
    This can happen if the rider speeds up abruptly, encounters an obstacle, or continues to ride after receiving a low-battery alert.

    All of which are the rider's fault. By that logic we should recall cars, boats, and planes as well.

  • This is a BAD thing? (Score:3, Funny)

    by camusflage ( 65105 ) on Friday September 26, 2003 @03:46PM (#7067037)
    Personally, it sounds like Darwin in action to me. People that have more money than sense buy a toy, fall off, and potentially relieve the gene pool of the affliction.

  • So what's the problem? (Score:3, Funny)

    by aaaurgh ( 455697 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @07:14AM (#7071336)
    Just hook the thing up to one of the TZero's [acpropulsion.com] Range extending trailers [acpropulsion.com] and the problem's solved. Hell, you might even get the thing up above 15mph! ;-)

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