This Christmas, several kids ran down the stairs to unwrap what people say is the hottest gift of the season.

The hoverboard, ranging from around $500 to $2000, is an electric self-balancing skateboard that one can ride from place to place. The funny thingis, these boards don’t even “hover.”
While the hoverboard comes with no helmets and nothing to grab on to, the question on everyone’s mind is, does it come with a risk?

Bad batteries, big blow ups, and colossal catastrophes, no wonder the #1 gift of the holidays is also the #1 danger to all who own them.

According to the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission, recent hoverboards that the CPSC have had possession of caught fire while charging. In addition to catching fire, the CPSC has received numerous hoverboard injury reports from several hospital ERs.

In the last three months, the CPSC has received eight reports of treated hoverboard injuries from the ER. Paul Hodkinson, a man from Kentucky, bought a hoverboard for his three grandchildren as a Christmas gift. However, when the family left the hoverboard to charge in the kitchen unwatched, it caught fire “like a bomb” and the fire destroyed the kitchen causing roughly $364,000 worth of damage.

The question that a lot of owners and those who are interested in possessing one have asked is, how do these fires even start? According to Independent News, many of the plugs don’t have fuses and overheat, leading them to explode or catch fire.

Most people found that the fires started when the hoverboards were charged out of supervision. People have described the sound of these boards blowing up as a loud bang that forces them to leave their houses to escape the amount of flames.

In Humble, Texas, people were forced to evacuate Deerbrook Mall as one man tried to return his faulty device. As he was on his way to returning the board, the hoverboard blew up in his face causing the Humble Fire Department to show up at the scene.

Although most fires start while the boards are charging, there have been reports of these boards blowing up while people are riding them. Jay Whitacre, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, says that the problem doesn’t have to do with these self-balancing scooters themselves, but with the quality of the batteries being used.

Lithium ion batteries, the same batteries used in smartphones and cars, are also used in hoverboards. These batteries are small and are able to hold a lot of energy, two factors as to why electronic manufacturers use them. The batteries have “long led to explosions” according to Whitacre.

These batteries can cause the board to blow up at any action. Just a simple bump into the wall to a crash into a pole can cause the boards to blow.

“There are a lot of factories in China that now make Li-ion batteries, and the reality is that the quality and consistency of these batteries is typically not as good as what is found in top tier producers such as LG or Samsung,” Whitacre said.

While cars and airplanes have fans to prevent these batteries from overheating, hoverboards do not contain these fans; a major factor that keeps the batteries at a safe, functioning temperature is absent in this product.

Aside from the hoverboards blowing up, they are dangerous as people are losing balance and falling off. These boards take time and training to master, and one must be careful when stepping off the board as it can run one over.

What’s the scariest part about these boards? There’s no one way to prevent these risks and avoid catastrophe. In fact, airlines recognize this danger and that is why hoverboards are banned from all airplanes due to the fact that they may blow up while in the air.

Despite knowing all the facts, some people still think the thrill of the hoverboard is worth the risk.
Regardless of the price, one never knows for sure what risks come with the purchase of the board. It seems as if the hottest gift of the season really is “hot.”