{"id":465377,"date":"2026-09-16T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/465377\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T08:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T08:00:14","slug":"with-e-bike-crashes-soaring-san-diego-county-to-sue-illegal-e-bike-companies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/465377\/","title":{"rendered":"With e-bike crashes soaring, San Diego County to sue illegal e-bike companies"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Diego County has a new target for a consumer protection lawsuit: deceptive advertising of e-bikes.<\/p>\n

The Board of Supervisors has ordered county attorneys to start litigation against companies that sell and market products they call e-bikes but which are actually more akin to high-powered electric motorcycles.<\/p>\n

Such bikes, which look like and are marketed as regular e-bikes, can easily have their settings reprogramed with a companion app to reach speeds up to 60 mph. That\u2019s well beyond the 28 mph limit California law sets for classifying a product as an e-bike.<\/p>\n

Other products, like electric dirt bikes which are illegal to ride on public roads in California<\/a>, are also being marketed to consumers as e-bikes.<\/p>\n

Too often, families are buying these motorcycles in disguise for young children, said Board Chair Terra Lawson-Remer, who introduced legislation authorizing the new litigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a really sad issue,\u201d Lawson-Remer said during a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis deceptive advertising, this deceptive marketing violates really fundamental consumer protections,\u201d Lawson-Remer said.<\/p>\n

The county action comes as e-bike crashes involving children have grabbed headlines, including a death in Pacific Beach over the weekend. <\/a><\/p>\n

On Saturday, 14-year-old Owen Harris died after he was struck by a car while riding a standard e-bike in the beachside neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Harris was hit after crossing the intersection of Olney Street and Balboa Avenue while the light was red, San Diego police said.<\/p>\n

According to Rady Children\u2019s Hospital, the number of pediatric trauma cases involving e-bikes has soared in recent years. In 2021, the hospital saw three cases. But by 2025, that number had risen 262 cases.<\/p>\n

A similar trend is being seen throughout California.<\/p>\n

In 2018, the state recorded two e-bike crashes, but by 2024, that number had jumped to more than 1,500, according to a recent study on e-bike safety from UC San Diego.<\/p>\n

The study also found that e-bike riders were more likely to travel at unsafe speeds and make improper turns.<\/p>\n

In response, local governments in the San Diego area are taking action. The state Legislature has looked to crack down on illegal e-bikes, too.<\/p>\n

In San Diego, rules took effect in August establishing minimum age requirements for e-bikes. Cities including Chula Vista and Escondido have passed similar age requirements.<\/p>\n

In Sacramento, the state Legislature recently passed SB 1167, authored by state Sen. Catherine Blakespear, which would ban companies\u00a0from marketing electric motorcycles as e-bikes.<\/p>\n

The pending legislation is why Supervisor Jim Desmond cast the sole vote against the county suing companies who improperly market motorcycles as e-bikes.<\/p>\n

With new rules on the cusp of becoming law, Desmond said it was \u201cpremature\u201d to take companies to court.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe we\u2019d be jumping the gun by pursuing litigation as a first step,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe the focus should be on education for parents and kids alike.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill has yet to be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Diego County has a new target for a consumer protection lawsuit: deceptive advertising of e-bikes. The Board…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465378,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,23,205,100,13,74,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-465377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-local-politics","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}