UL Issues First Safety Certification for Hoverboards

On May 10, 2016, Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL), the global safety science organization, announced that it issued the first safety certification to the UL 2272 safety requirements for electrical systems of self-balancing scooters (aka hoverboards), which was launched in February 2016. After completing a construction evaluation, safety testing and complying with UL 2272’s marking, labeling and user instruction requirements, a hoverboard manufactured by Ninebot (parent company of Segway) has been found to meet all the requirements. UL reminds consumers that the UL 2272 certification does not address riding safety and that proper safety precautions should be taken when using self-balancing scooters.

An official certificate of compliance was presented to Ninebot along with holographic product labels featuring the UL Enhanced Mark at an event held at UL China. To identify hoverboard models that have been UL certified in the marketplace, consumers should look for the UL holographic label and Enhanced Mark on the product. This makes it easy for consumers to identify genuine products that have achieved UL certification.

A company spokesperson for UL stated that UL was very pleased to make this announcement because it means that consumers can purchase with more peace of mind, knowing that the electrical system has been safety-certified to electrical and fire safety requirements. He continued by noting that retailers can source UL-certified hoverboards with confidence in their safety certification as well as build UL 2272 compliance into their procurement policies.

Obtaining UL certification to UL 2272 complies with the details outlined in the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) letter to manufacturers, importers and retailers issued on February 18, 2016. This letter urged them to make certain that the self-balancing scooters they import, manufacture, distribute or sell in the United States comply with currently applicable voluntary safety standards, including all referenced standards and requirements contained in UL 2272.

All UL-certified self-balancing scooter models can be found by entering a manufacturer’s name in UL’s certification database . They fall under the UL Category Code “FKIS.” The list of certified products will be updated continually as more product manufacturers are certified to UL 2272.

This blog post was published originally on June 13, 2016.