Blog iii - One Look at Onewheels

Electric skate board company, Future Motion (FM), is forced to update their boards to the chagrin of some customers.  The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ordered Future Motion to recall 300,000 of it's boards in 2022, on the basis that all 300,000 boards where inherently flawed. The recall came after four people died from crashes off of Future Motions boards. Future Motion was quick to point out that three of the riders were not wearing helmets, and that their boards already had safety warnings for riders at high speeds. In an effort to show the CPSC that any deaths were from user error, and that they would be making a mistake to force a recall Future Motion used it's Instagram @onewheel to rally support from riders. 

In 48 hours 4,000 letters were hand delivered to the CPSC headquarters in Washington DC. This did not stop the CPSC from pressing forward in demanding a recall, but it did bring the onewheel community closer together. This video changed my perspective of the amazing boards -> https://www.instagram.com/reel/ClUKtwkjWDl/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== . In the video Future Motion employees read letters from riders. Letters from riders whose lives are changed because of onwheel. 

All the support did not win the legal battle. Recently in 2023 Future motion recalled all 300,000 electric boards. I own one so naturally I was sad to see my board go, however I didn't have to! While FM had lost the legal battle they were allowed to stay in business if they enhanced the safety of their product.  With a simple app, and board update riders no longer had to send in their boards, only those who  wanted to could. This update is called the "Haptic Buzz." Along with Haptic Buzz FM posted many videos of people wearing helmets and discussing the problems that had been addressed with the update. The company has been very transparent in the midst of legal defeat. Some riders commented on FM latest posts saying things like the update needed an on and off switch, most riders were in support of the update, but a few are still pretty upset about it. 

When responding to negative comments FM kept it professional and timely, usually in a day. Out of every 10 negative comment FM would respond to about 2 of them. Picking questions that  hadn't been asked before. This keeps the conversation educational and keeps debates on posts from getting out of hand. FM liked and replied to several positive comments. This shows that their attention is about making the best of this situation. A large short coming I noticed is that any comments made a week after the post was uploaded were not responded to. FM only replies to comments made within the same week as the post. With such a sensitive issue it seems strange that they are moving on from questions so fast.

If I was the brand manager I would host a live stream where people could ask questions about the update and get real time feedback. I would also make sure to reply to comments made after the first week. In the face of four deaths FM should take longer than a week to rectify the issue, and walk the fan base through it. It is cold to not converse with people who have genuine questions.

I have learned from watching FM handle the situation with the CPSC that transparency is key to wining over the hearts of your fans online. People respected FM for taking a stand, and then correcting it's mistakes. Other companies could do better with transparency. I have also learned that when handling hard news or complicated information. Honesty, and time will guide discussion better than a company that wants to move on fast from an uncomfortable situation. 

FM Instagram -> https://www.instagram.com/onewheel/

FM website -> https://onewheel.com/

Verge article -> https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/29/23896151/onewheel-cpsc-recall-future-motion-crash-death