When Peloton announced a voluntary recall of their original bike model on May 11th due to a faulty seat issue, it was terrible timing for a company that had reported its first-ever decline in subscribers and a 13% drop in shares the week prior. Revenue for the company was already down 22% from a year ago, and the recall of the Peloton PL-01 bike made the situation worse causing stocks to drop to an all-time low.
The PL-01 recall isn’t the first for Peloton. Two years ago, their Tread+ treadmill was recalled after 350 users reported the treadmill pulled them down and under the device, resulting in 90 injuries and 1 accidental death of a child. Although reports of accidents with the treadmill began in 2018, Peloton did not immediately inform the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) that their Tread+ treadmill contained a default that created an “unreasonable risk of injury to consumers”, which is required by law. Peloton has since agreed to pay an over $19 million civil penalty for knowingly distributing recalled treadmills.
On May 18th of this year, Peloton was issued an approved repair process of the Tread+ treadmill from the CPSC and will offer the fix of the rear guard of the treadmill free to anyone who still owns it. But there is no word as to whether the company will resume selling the product or not.
As for the PL-01 bike, 35 users reported the seat post breaking off causing them to fall and resulting in 13 injuries. The CPSC approved a bike recall repair process and product owners have been instructed to stop using the bike and contact Peloton for a new bike seat post that can be easily self-installed.