Falling Batteries & Risk of Fire Leads to Santa Cruz Recall of 2022 Heckler eMTBs
Santa Cruz has announced a recall of 2022 Heckler 9 eMTBs sold between January 2022 and March 2022 because of falling batteries and battery wear that could lead to fires.
Around 1600 bikes are believed to be affected by Santa Cruz with issues focused on the latch mechanism holding the battery in place malfunctioning. Of the two faults found the first involves the battery being dislodged from the frame and falling to the ground and the second fault comes from the latch spring causing damage to the battery housing which is a fire hazard. Currently, Santa Cruz has received 10 reports of batteries dropping out of frames with two reports of wear on the battery housing. Luckily there have been no reports of fires or injuries coming from these faults.
The recall covers 2022 Santa Cruz Heckler 9 models sold in Gloss Avocado Green or Maritime Gray colors with an interchangeable 720WH battery. Santa Cruz recommends riders stop using their bike immediately and contact an authorized dealer to arrange a free repair to change the latch spring mechanism and add a battery wear plate.
You can read more details about the recall here.
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...more like a lithium fire?
When SCB was a smaller grass roots company, "Quality Bikes" was their motto and they lived by it.
These mopeds with pedals may be fun to ride - and they're super fun, according to the people who are paid to ride them - but they're not bicycles. Full stop.
The trail access issues alone that are associated with these pedal-assist mopeds should give us all pause. Why the same industry that is pushing these down our collective throat doesn't see this as a problem is a sign of a near-term view based on profit alone. It will be difficult to sell these machines when there are no trails to ride them on. This doesn't even touch on the environmental and sustainability aspects of the batteries.
But, hey, I'm just an old man yelling at clouds.
I’ll stick to riding my really enjoyable ebike alongside my other bikes. You can pretend it’s not a bicycle if it makes you feel better though?
No trail access issues here, must be (another) weird America thing…
You forgot “Stay off my lawn!” But yeah, agreed that mopeds are a problem.
These are probably a ton of fun. But so are go-karts and surfboards and many other things which aren't bicycles.
Evergreen is looking to purchase some land and build trails in the next couple years but that will leave people without anywhere good to ride for at least 2 years probably more.
I don’t know, what do you think?
This just happened to a friend of mine riding a Kona Honzo the other day. Bike just caught fire. What are you going to do? This is why bikes come with a water bottle cage. Need to have some water to put out the fires.
Problem solved. You’re welcome SC
And lower back pain is even worse!
Bad thing was that in the garage together with that burning e-bike were Tesla, Ferrari and Bentley
www-novilist-hr.translate.goog/novosti/crna-kronika/planula-garaza-u-blizini-hotela-navis-izgorjela-tri-luksuzna-automobila-steta-je-visemilijunska/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=de
Then there's the increase demand for energy.
Then there's the lack of energy plants being built. (Nuclear/hydro/gas fired).
Then there's the new mining required.
Doing it for the green...$ that is.
Green new deal lol
No waste at all with making a gas tank? Pipelines? Refineries? Tankers? Semis? That shit just magically manifests without a single bit of created waste?
Difference is, once the battery is out of the ground, it stays the f*ck out of the ground, you don't set it on fire (unless it's an E-bike, then burn that f*cker), and then you don't pump more out of the ground and set it on fire.
Lots of room to improve with recycling these materials, but I think we can handle it.
We've built energy infrastructure before. We can do it again. You see how you are typing stupid bullshit on the internet now? We built that. We built the power supplying it. Don't be a defeatist moron.
I've got an EV in the garage, solar panels on the roof, and I pretty much throw a few quarters at the big energy companies a month to cover what my panels don't cover. Pretty big "F-U" to the man if you ask me.
When the world ends, I'll be driving my EV around, get home to charge it with the sun, and be watching everyone murder each other at gas stations.
But hey, keep spouting billion dollar oil company propaganda like a good boy.
There are a lot of issues around renewables and EV's that still need to be solved. We cant kid ourselves and pretend we're already where we need to be. This "FU I got mine" attitude is what got us to where we are as a planet.
P.S. Your PV system relies on the grid voltage to function. When the world ends, you are in the dark like everyone else. At best you go dark a few years later when your batteries cycle out.
Solution to a lot of the grid problems ARE EVs. Mobile energy storage dumping back into the grid during high demand, pulling during demand. We aren't far away from an EV or two in the garage/driveway, punching " I need 40 miles tomorrow, power the house with the rest", and off we go.
As for the grid tie issue... Way ahead of you there
Natural gas is abundant and burns clean. Maybe some box or nh3 slip.
Very little pm(particulate).
I like EVs.
We will def need more power plants though. Especially once crypto is regulated and becomes commonplace.
Whether its cobalt/lithium/solid state...salt lakes mined...itll be interesting to see. Hard to recycle so far. I wonder where the break even point (environmental impact) would be if all fuel cars were replaced by ev in the US...30 years?
I'd love for an EV van..but that's mainly bc um an idiot and live in Ca where gas is overly expensive vs 1 or 2 states nearby.
Weeks later the manufacturer recalls the Heckler eMTB because "it could catch on fire"
This is becoming a HOT TOPIC!
I'll see myself out...
[I mean, shuttling and lifts are worse than ebikes, right ... RIGHT?] before casting judgement. Just saying.
But ignorance is unfortunately a blessing these days in the United States
Sticking it in the top of the downtube so it's sat IN the tube seems to make much more sense to me.
Good old Santa Cruz. Giving us bikes that cost the same as a car AND making them a fire hazard so we get the full experience? Genius.
If it's a manufacturing issue then it's great that customers are paying premium prices for budget (poor quality control) parts, manufacturing control, quality processes etc.
If it's a design issue then it's great that customers are paying premium prices for poor design, testing, characterization and design verification.
Recalls suck when you would in R&D or supply chain as a development engineer.
If you already have an eeb
You could replace the water bottle holder w/a fire extinguisher
Or throw it in the dumpster and invite all your friends over for a colorful bon fire (w/beer and pizza)
Now its not so funny
Your batteries not here to stay
Should’ve bought a Session
Your latch is now in question
Cannot keep its battery
Ba ter ry
Ba ter ry
My "real" bikes have never caught on fire as I was riding them ...not even once in all these years lol
Maybe the faulty latch was supplied by the battery maker or 100% made by SC. I can't answer that.
A) reach lenght/HA/ST
B) wheel size...
C) core insert
The new world will debate which method to fix batterie problems!
I am pedaling my enduro 29 earning my pint in UK. Sometimes using gondolas, uplifts in bikeparks. I love being super fit!
and every removable ebike battery i have ever seen has "wear" near the latch mechanism. its kind of what happens when things rub against each other.
Muricans trying to get on some sort of claim bandwagon yet again sigh.
See Nobody cares…