Hoverboard battery explodes in Sydney home

The NSW Fair Trading Commissioner has issued a warning about hoverboards after an exploding battery unit caused a fire at a western Sydney home.

Fire

File image of a hoverboard. Source: AAP

A hoverboard battery has exploded and scattered hot fragments inside a Sydney home, causing the fifth board-related house fire in NSW this year.

One person was treated for minor smoke inhalation at the scene of the small fire which started while the board was being charged in Bankstown on Wednesday, a NSW Fire and Rescue spokesman said.

The incident has prompted NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe to warn people to stop using or charging their board unless they're sure it meets safety standards specified in a nationwide ban imposed last month.

Fair Trading says consumers are entitled to seek a refund if they have been sold an unsafe product and should check if their hoverboard are among the numerous recalled models.

The federal government imposed the two-month ban after a Melbourne home was destroyed by a board that caught fire ten minutes after it started charging in January.

Fair Trading has been going through online sales to contact all traders about the ban.

Low cost, directly imported products posed the most risk, it says.


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Source: AAP



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