Future Motion Onewheel skateboards are products that became very popular among both children and adults in recent years. They are described as electric skateboards with one wheel positioned in the middle of the skateboard. However, many users began noticing that these skateboards had serious flaws that caused severe and life-threatening injuries to occur. A personal injury attorney can help you recover compensation if injured by a faulty skateboard.
What types of injuries are caused by Future Motion Onewheel skateboards?
According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the Future Motion Onewheel skateboards were recalled in late September 2023. The reason for this recall was because these electric skateboards had issues that caused them to suddenly stop balancing the user if the limits were exceeded. As a result, the CPSC and Future Motion Inc. recalled all models of these one-wheel electric skateboards made between 2014 and 2023, which is around 300,000 units.
When the Future Motion skateboards would suddenly stop balancing the riders on them, serious and life-altering injuries would occur. Some of the most common types of injuries that are caused by Future Motion Onewheel skateboards include:
- Broken or fractured bones: Individuals who have been injured by Future Motion Onewheel skateboards reported broken or fractured bones. This may be a broken or fractured finger, hand, foot, leg, arm, and more. Broken and fractured bones usually heal over time, but they are extremely painful, may require surgery, and can affect your life in various ways going forward.
- Traumatic brain injuries: Traumatic brain injuries are another commonly reported injury from Future Motion Onewheel skateboards. Traumatic brain injuries emerge when an individual hits or bumps their head on a hard surface or experiences a sudden jolt to their head or body. These types of injuries are very serious and must be treated right away to avoid long-term complications as well as death. It can take several hours or days for symptoms to arise, which is why you should get medical attention immediately after an accident to ensure that you do not have a traumatic brain injury. While concussions seem to be the main type of traumatic brain injury reported from these electric skateboards, there are several other types of traumatic brain injuries that may arise, such as contusions, diffuse axonal injuries, brain hemorrhages, intracranial hematomas, coup-contrecoup injuries, and more.
- Soft tissue injuries: Soft tissue injuries can be bruising, swelling, or damage to a person’s ligaments, muscles, or tendons. Unfortunately, ligament damage has been reported after accidents with Future Motion Onewheel electric skateboards. While most people think of soft tissue injuries as minor, these injuries are actually very painful and can impact a person’s life for many years to come.
- Back and spinal cord injuries: Back and spinal cord injuries also have the potential to emerge after an accident on one of these one-wheel skateboards. When an individual riding the Future Motion electric skateboard stops suddenly and falls due to the balancing issue, they have a high chance of pulling a muscle or ligament in their back or even damaging the spinal cord or vertebrae completely. This is very serious because individuals who suffer spinal cord injuries typically do not ever make a full recovery. In addition, those with spinal cord injuries usually experience traumatic and devastating complications, such as muscle weakness, numbness, nerve damage, chronic pain, bladder and bowel issues, sexual dysfunction, and more.
- Paralysis: Paralysis is another major problem reported from Future Motion Onewheel skateboard accidents. Paralysis means that a person can no longer move certain parts of their body or function in the same way that they did before the accident, which is usually the result of a serious injury, such as a spinal cord injury or traumatic brain injury. There are several different types of paralysis. For example, an individual diagnosed with diplegia may be unable to move both of their arms or both of their legs at the same time, and an individual with hemiplegia may be unable to move one arm or one leg. Those with paraplegia are typically paralyzed from the waist down, and those with quadriplegia are completely paralyzed in all their limbs. Some of the lifelong complications that arise with paralysis are breathing problems, blood clots, inability to speak or swallow, depression, pressure sores, bladder and bowel issues, blood pressure problems, and more.
- Facial and dental injuries: If you experience a hard fall from one of these electric one-wheel skateboards, there is a high chance that you may suffer facial and dental injuries. This can be a chipped tooth, broken nose, broken jawbone, broken cheek bones, severe facial road burns, missing teeth, eye injuries, and more. Most facial and dental injuries heal with time and cosmetic surgeries. However, your appearance may never look the same as it once did before the accident, which can have a negative impact on your self-esteem and confidence for the rest of your life.
- Death: As of October 2023, four people have died from accidents involving Future Motion Onewheel electric skateboards. Most of these deaths occurred due to head and brain trauma, which likely occurred because the riders fell off their skateboards and hit their heads on the hard pavement or asphalt. The CPSC pointed out that three of the four individuals who died were not wearing helmets at the time of the accident.
At Kwartler Manus, LLC, our personal injury attorneys believe in holding responsible parties accountable for their negligent actions. Therefore, if you were injured due to an accident on one of these recalled Onewheel skateboards, please do not hesitate to get in touch with our legal team as soon as possible. Thousands of people are likely affected by these electric skateboards, which is why we want to help you fight for your legal rights and obtain the proper compensation you need and deserve to rebuild your life again. Contact us to schedule a no-cost consultation with one of our attorneys today.