Fitbit Recalls Popular Fitness Tracker for Burn Hazard

When you feel the burn while exercising, it’s not supposed to be an actual burn but that’s what happened to dozens of owners of a certain electronic monitoring device.

Owners of a popular wrist-worn fitness tracker are being advised to stop using the devices immediately following several cases where consumers suffered burns from overheated lithium-ion batteries.

Fitbit, in conjunction with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is recalling Fitbit Iconic smart watches sold between 2017 and 2020. The devices have a colored LCD display, three buttons and model number FB503 on the back of the device.

In a posting on the Fitbit website, the company says the voluntary recall is specific to the Iconic devices and doesn’t impact any other Fitbit smartwatches or trackers.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission on its website says about one-point-seven million smartwatches or trackers are affected. The posting says Fitbit sold about one million of the devices in the United States and another 693,000 internationally.

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There have been reports of at least 115 incidents in the U.S. of batteries overheating and 59 overseas. The CPSC site says there were 78 reports of actual burn injuries in the U.S., second-degree and more serious third-degree burns.

Fitbit says it is issuing the recall “out of an abundance of caution” but advises people to stop using their Iconic, even if it seems to be working normally.  It is offering a refund to customers.  A refund registration page is available on the website.