More than 40,000 rowing machines have been recalled in North America over a fire hazard.
IFit, which is headquartered in Utah, has voluntarily recalled its NordicTrack rowing machine after reports of the screen console overheating, catching on fire, smoking, melting, and causing significant property damage.
The company said it sold around 44,800 of the rowing machines in the US and 700 in Canada.
So far, there have been eight reported incidents involving the machines, which were manufactured in China.
The reported cases include two incidents involving fire and six reports of the rower screens smoking or melting. No injuries have been reported.
IFit has said that these cases have resulted in ‘at least $6,000 in property damage’ but to date.
Customers have been instructed to stop using the recalled rowing machines immediately and to unplug them.
A screen console on an exercise machine could overheat and ignite due to electrical faults, poor ventilation, or overheating of internal components like power supplies or circuit boards.
IFit, which is headquartered in Utah, has voluntarily recalled its NordicTrack rowing machine after reports of the screen console overheating, catching on fire, smoking, melting
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The recalled NordicTrack rowers have the model number NTRW19147, which can be found on a sticker at the base of the machine.
The recall applies to the model numbers NTRW19147.0, NTRW19147.1, NTRW19147.2 and NTRW19147.3.
These machines are colored black, gray, and white, with ‘NordicTrack’ printed in black on the front legs and ‘RW900’ printed in white on the back legs.
According to iFit, only the older version of this rowing machine is affected.
The rowers were sold nationwide, both in stores and online, from November 2018 to April 2022, for around $1,700.
Retailers included Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Nebraska Furniture Mart, ABT, as well as nordictrack.com and Amazon.
No refunds are being offered.
Instead, iFit is providing free installation of a new screen console, which can be scheduled online.
The recall applies to the model numbers NTRW19147.0, NTRW19147.1, NTRW19147.2 and NTRW19147.3
NordicTrack is one of four brands owned by iFit, with the others being iFit, ProForm and Freemotion.
A 2024 survey by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) found that exercise equipment sent almost half a million Americans to the emergency room in 2022.
Roughly 445,642 people visited the hospital in 2022 because of gym equipment, while another 719,335 required treatment for injuries related to basketball and cycling, combined.
In 2021, the fitness giant Peloton recalled 126,000 of their Tread+ treadmills after 72 people reported injuries – including cuts, burns and broken bones. One child died after being sucked into and trapped under the machine.
Stairmaster recalled 3,500 of it’s stair stepper machines in 2018, after some models were found to be accelerating automatically – leading to falls and injuries.