Peloton Fined $19 Million Over Treadmill Dangers

Peloton has been charged by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) with delays in ... [+] reporting to the CPSC injuries caused Peloton's Tread+ treadmills pulling under and entrapping people. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

When people tell you that they’ve been pulled under and trapped beneath a treadmill, it's usually a good idea to take such complaints seriously. After all, typically your workout is supposed to occur on top of the treadmill and not below it. Apparently, though, Peloton Interactive Inc., didn't take such complaints about their Tread+ treadmills seriously enough in the view of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The CPSC had previously charged Peloton with taking too long to notify the CPSC of such complaints and continuing to distribute Tread+ treadmills even after a recall had been issued. And now as was announced on January 5 by the CPSC, Peloton has agreed to pay a $19,065,000 civil penalty.

One of the Peloton instructors’ mottos may be, "If you can't get out of it, get into it." But such a motto shouldn't apply literally to a treadmill belt. Yet, Peloton received reports as early as December 2018 of "incidents associated with pull under and entrapment in the rear of the treadmills, including reports of injuries," in the words of the CPSC announcement. But did Peloton quickly tell the CPSC about these reports? Umm, not exactly.

Looks like they, wait for it, wait for it, waited until there were over 150 reports of people, pets, objects, or some combination of these being pulled beneath the rear of the Tread+ treadmill, as CPSC Commissioner Rich Trumka, Jr., tweeted:

From Twitter

According to the CPSC announcement, these pull-unders have resulted in the death of a six-year-old and at least 13 different injuries, including broken bones, lacerations, abrasions, and friction burns. As they say, once can be an accident, twice can be coincidence, three times can a pattern, but 150 is, "Why the heck did you wait until 150 times?" Clearly this was a major problem since presumably you don't plunk down over $4,000 to put something in your house or apartment that can really suck, suck you under it, that is. Not surprisingly, once Peloton finally told the CPSC about these incidents, there soon was a recall of about 125,000 Tread+ treadmills on May 5, 2021.

Peloton didn't quite get off the treadmill at this point, though. According to the CPSC, even after this recall "Peloton knowingly distributed in commerce 38 Tread+ recalled treadmills using Peloton personnel and through third-party delivery firms." Yeah, continuing to distribute a treadmill that has been recalled can be a real running problem, so to speak. If you do recall, a recall is supposed to mean pulling back all of the products. Every single one of them.

So now Peloton will have to shell out over $19 million. Plus, they’ve agreed to take steps to enhance their compliance with the CPSC, including putting in a system of internal controls and filing an annual report on their compliance program each year for the next five years. In other words, they’ll need to treadmill more lightly.

Again, it's not clear why Peloton waited so long to notify the CPSC about the injuries that began occurring in 2018. Whenever you receive reports of injuries or potential injuries caused by your product, it's a good idea to notify the CPSC as soon as possible to discuss how the situation can be rectified as soon as possible. After all, such a situation can be like running on a treadmill. No matter how fast you may run, you can't run away from reality.