A toy hoverboard made by Fit Turbo appears to have exploded in a Louisiana home, causing a fire that spread throughout the house.
A local CNN affiliate reports that a hoverboard belonging to Jessica Horne’s 12-year-old son exploded on Dec. 1, after he had it for just one day. The toy had been purchased on Amazon.com for about $300.
Reports from the United Kingdom earlier this month showed several hoverboards of this type exploding while charging. The electrical failure was attributed to cheaply manufactured batteries. The hoverboard in Louisiana also ran on lithium batteries and was charging at the time of the explosion
Horne said she saw the toy explode in her son’s bedroom. There were explosions on “both wheels” that then spread to the middle of the board, and that “it was like fireworks.”
An Alabama resident who purchased a hoverboard on Amazon also posted a video of an explosion on Nov. 20, according to local news station WKRG.
Toy hoverboards don’t quite properly hover: they typically use wheels to balance, similarly to a Segway. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission said that there have been eight reports of injuries from hoverboards in the last three months, but that all were from falls.