Fitbit is recalling its Ionic smartwatch after wearers report burns

Fitbit is recalling its Ionic mannequin of smartwatches after receiving greater than 100 experiences of them overheating and, in some circumstances, burning customers. 

“The well being and security of Fitbit customers is our highest precedence. We’re taking this motion out of an abundance of warning for our customers,” the Google-owned firm mentioned in a shopper discover posted on its web site Wednesday. 

In line with the US Client Product Security Fee (CPSC), the difficulty is attributable to the smartwatch mannequin’s lithium-ion battery. Whereas these are extremely frequent in electrical gadgets like laptops, TVs, cell telephones, and even electrical automobiles, lithium-ion batteries might be hearth hazards when improperly dealt with. If the batteries get broken, they will overheat, which might be the difficulty with the Fitbit Ionic watches. 

Fitbit advised CNBC that the issue is uncommon, with about 1 million Ionic watches offered within the US and 115 complaints reported. In line with the CPSC, 84 customers within the US reported being burned to numerous levels whereas sporting their watch. A further 693,000 or so watches have been offered internationally, leading to one other 59 complaints. Each Mexico and Canada have joined the US in recalling the mannequin, the CPSC famous. 

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The Fitbit Ionic was offered from September 2017 by December 2021, although manufacturing stopped in 2020. The smartwatch is used to trace exercise like strolling and operating, in addition to sleep and coronary heart charge. Fitbit says the battery situation doesn’t prolong to any of its different gadgets, which monitor related metrics. 

Shoppers are suggested to right away cease sporting the Ionic watch as a result of threat, even when their watches haven’t introduced any issues. Fitbit is providing pre-paid packaging for returns, a $299 refund, and a 40 p.c off low cost code on a choice of different gadgets in trade for the recalled product. If you happen to aren’t certain whether or not you may have this mannequin, you may verify the mannequin quantity on the again of the gadget (the Ionic mannequin quantity is FB503), or you may go to Fitbit’s recall web page for extra product particulars, pictures, and return data.