Hi,
I am an Acton Blink S2 owner and got an accident while riding it on 10th Feb. Turns out, the screws holding the rightside motored wheel has got snapped at 30kph. Luckily, there wasn't any car around but I've injured left elbow, both wrists, both legs and left side body, still in pain on my right leg.
I would like all S2 owners to know about this because I'm not the only one who has the same issue. Furthermore, Acton already knew about it but they are not taking this seriously.
Please read the email conversation below.
Email conversation thread
[Acton] Feb 10
We have created this ticket for you, we would like help you with the current situation your board is in.
Please let us know what you would like to do.
[Me] Feb 12
What's happened is. I was riding at pro max speed on asphalt and suddenly the right wheel got off. I have checked the 3 screws attached to the motor (before and after). All of them are where it should be. Even 2 screws are still attached firmly. Do you need any photos or videos? To find out what it caused?
[Acton] Feb 13
Yes, Please attach any videos or photos you may have. These will be greatly helpful to us.
[Me] Feb 13
Some photos are attached.
Please let me know if you need different angle. By the way, are those 3 screws are short like in the photo?
[Acton] Feb 14
We are sending you the rear assembly for your Blink S2, first please take a look at the S2 Self Repair guide that is attached.
PDF - ACTON Blink S2 Repair Guide V1.0.pdf
[Me] Feb 14
Is this a joke?
Did you even see the photos? The problem is the wheel, not the body. I don't want to repair. I need to know why the wheel got off in the middle of riding.
[Acton] Feb 14
After looking at the pictures you provided, it looks like the vibration from the road and motor must have put enough stress on the screws and they eventually snapped. The stress may have caused the screws to go beyond the heat treatment allows. This combined with constant use could have been the cause for the motor to separate form the truck.
[Me] Feb 14
So this isn't my fault?
Apparently, I am not the first one who has the same issue. Don't Acton take this as serious production issue? Don't you have to recall or something?
[Acton] Feb 15
We want to send you a replacement part that has been improved.
Can you provide an address where you would like the part?
[Me] Feb 15
What exactly did you improve?
So does it mean that Acton already knew this issue?
Please answer my questions, including previous ones.
[Acton] Feb 16
We have received a few cases with this issue, we are sending out replacements for the parts that are damaged.
Our engineers will check the parts before they are sent out.
[Me] Feb 16
I can't believe how Acton is dealing this issue. If you knew it already, you had to warn all owners and recall or come up with any solution. Then, I didn't need to get suffered. If it happened in the road, I could get hit by a car and die.
Based on Acton's react, I am not sure if I can trust Acton and its products.
Let owners know and offer the replacement.
[Acton] Feb 20
We would like to thank you for the concern and feed back you have given us, we are currently reminding customers to do regular inspections and maintenance on their boards. Like any motorized transportation device, there is always maintenance that needs to be done. We hope the information we provide will help to prevent this issue in the future.
We posted this on our blog back in July.
https://blog.actonglobal.com/2017/07/03/tips-blink-s2-users/
[Me] Feb 20
Are you kidding?
There is no information about the screws getting snapped from the inside. How possibly the riders can maintain that? X ray?
All I want is Acton to post a blog saying that there is safety issue with the screws.
Since this, I haven't heard any from Acton. If you have any questions or want to talk to me, please leave me(Brandon Choi) a comment in comments section on Indiegogo at below:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/acton-blink-most-advanced-eboards-ever--2/x/15558623#/comments
Thanks for reading and have a safe riding!