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Sept. 26, 2003 — U.S. regulators and the maker of the Segway Human Transporter launched a recall Friday after receiving reports of riders falling off the MEMS-enabled machine when batteries run low.
Manchester, N.H.-based Segway LLC said it’s recalling about 6,000 of the self-balancing scooters to upgrade software that will allow the machine to tell the rider if it’s approaching critically low power. The improvements are not directly related to the MEMS gyros and tilt sensors that provide the “dynamic stabilization,” or orientation and balance.
Segway, which officially launched the machine in December 2001 and started selling it last year, said it had received reports of three falls, one resulting in a head injury that required stitches. Segway spokeswoman Carla Vallone said the company went to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission when it came up with the solution.
Vallone declined to reveal the cost of the recall. The company plans to contact owners, but they also can contact the company directly.
Earlier this month, Segway engineer Philip LeMay told Small Times that the Balance Sensor Assembly, which Segway gets from U.K.-based Silicon Sensing Systems, has performed well and provides high shock immunity over bumps and curbs.
“I think the … module is doing exactly what we really need,” said LeMay, manager of embedded systems, design and release. “Right now, it’s not anything that’s causing any concern.”
Marlene Bourne, a MEMS analyst with In-Stat/MDR, said even though the issue is not with the microsystems inside, the technology could take a hit in the public’s mind.
“The problem might be battery power, but that’s the thing that makes gyros go, so it could be seen as a failure of the technology,” Bourne said.
Still, she speculated that another emerging small technology ultimately could save the day: “Maybe (Segway) needs to have … solar-powered cells to store energy.”
Bourne and others discussed issues of reliability last week at the MEMS Technology Roadmap and Industry Congress (METRIC) in Pittsburgh. Some attendees said that MEMS might work well in integrated systems, but are only as good as the sum of the rest of the parts.