Google subsidiary Fitbit is paying a lot of money for a critical issue that has turned its Ionic smartwatches into tiny torches. US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) This week, it announced that Fitbit has agreed to pay a $12.25 million fine for underreporting the risk of serious burns with its Ionic smartwatches. According to the CPSC, during 2018 and 2019 and continuing into 2020, Fitbit received numerous reports of… Ionic smartwatches heat up while being worn by consumers, causing some consumers to suffer burns including second and third degree burns (!) on their arms or wrists.

Although Fitbit began updating the firmware to mitigate the possibility of battery overheating in early 2020, the company has continued to receive reports of consumers suffering burns due to the wearable overheating.

Because Fitbit did not promptly notify the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) as required, even though it had information that reasonably supported a conclusion that the smartwatches contained a defect that could create a significant hazard to the product or create an unreasonable risk of injury Serious, she was fined by the committee. .

It’s also worth noting that the CPSC and Fitbit announced a recall of the Ionic smartwatches in March 2022, which stated that the company had received at least 115 reports in the United States of the smartwatch’s battery overheating, with 78 reports of burn injuries. In the United States, including two reports of third-degree burns and four reports of second-degree burns.

The Commission announced that aside from the $12.25 million civil penalty, the settlement agreement requires Fitbit to “Maintain internal controls and procedures designed to ensure compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), including improvements to its compliance program“In addition, Fitbit will now be required to report annually regarding its compliance and internal controls program and internal audit of the effectiveness of compliance policies, procedures, systems and training.