Peloton Recalls 2.2 Million Exercise Bikes Over Seat Safety Issue: 'Immediately Stop Using'

Peloton said it was recalling 2.2 million exercise bikes after concerns over seat post breaking and detaching from the machine during use, and "posing fall and injury hazards to the user."

Owners of Bike Model PL01, also known as the original Peloton bike, have been asked to "immediately stop using" the machines to prevent any accidents, and contact the company for a replacement of the bike seat post, NBC reported.

At least 35 incidents and 13 injuries have already been reported due to people falling off the faulty bikes, according to a recall notice by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

"Peloton has received 35 reports of the seat post breaking and detaching from the bike during use, including 13 reports of injuries including a fractured wrist, lacerations and bruises due to falling from the bike," the CPSC said in the notice dated Thursday.

The commission further asked users to contact Peloton for a free repair.

"Peloton is offering consumers a free seat post that can be self-installed," the CPSC added.

The company confirmed the voluntary recall entailed only the original bike sold in the United States, and not international models or other recent Bike+ models, according to ABC News.

"The seat post can break unexpectedly during use, creating a potential fall and injury risk. We have identified 35 reports of seat posts breaking out of 2,160,000 units sold in the U.S.," the exercise equipment maker said in a statement. "There is no impact to Peloton Bike+ Members nor Peloton original Bike owners in the UK, Germany, and Australia,"

Peloton explained the impacted bike models can be identified by a label on the inside front fork, near its flywheel. The Taiwan-manufactured bikes also have a red "P" logo with the Peloton brand name in white on the bike frame and retailed for approximately $1,400. They were only sold in the U.S. between January 2018 and May 2023.

Shares of Peloton Interactive Inc. plunged to a new all-time low by over 8% Thursday after the recall announcement.

This latest setback comes four months after the fitness company agreed to pay a fine of $19 million after failing to report safety issues concerning its Tread+ and Tread treadmills. In 2021, the CPS warned about safety concerns with Tread+, citing "multiple incidents of small children and a pet being injured beneath the machines." At least 150 people, pets and objects got pulled under the rear of the treadmills, and 13 suffered injuries. A 6-year-old child died in one incident.

"Peloton had failed to immediately report to CPSC, as required by law, that its Tread+ treadmill contained a defect that could create a substantial product hazard and created an unreasonable risk of serious injury to consumers," the commission had said at the time.

Peloton had initially refused to recall the machines, calling the CPSC's warning "inaccurate and misleading." However, following several injuries and the death of a child, the company recalled several treadmills in May 2021.