Fitbit Settlement Results in $12.25M CPSC Fine Over Failure To Report Smartwatch Burn Injuries

Federal regulators have approved a Fitbit settlement to address allegations that the company failed to immediately report burn injuries to consumers that were caused by a defect in its Ionic smartwatches.

The CPSC first announced a Fitbit Ionic recall in March 2022, following at least 115 reports of the products’ lithium-ion batteries overheating, leading to at least 78 burn injuries, including four incidents of second-degree burns, and two incidents of third-degree burns.

The Ionic was sold at Best Buy, Target and Kohl’s as well as online through Amazon.com and Fitbit.com. Over 1 million Fitbit Ionic smartwatches were sold in the U.S., with retail prices ranging from $200 to $330.

However, from 2018 through 2020, Fitbit received numerous reports of Ionic smartwatches overheating while being worn, which caused multiple customers to sustain burn injuries on their arms or wrists. While the manufacturer issued a firmware update for the smartwatches in early 2020 to help lessen the battery’s potential to overheat, the repair failed to prevent overheating events.

Despite knowing that the smartwatches likely contained a defect that created an unreasonable risk of serious injury, the company did not immediately report this information to federal regulators as required by law.

As a result of the manufacturer’s apparent delay in reporting, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) did open an investigation into the timing of Fitbit’s reporting of customer burn injuries related to their Ionic smartwatches, which focused on whether Fitbit failed to report the burn risks associated with the product in a timely manner, as required by federal law.

On January 23, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced in a news release that Fitbit agreed to a $12.25 million fine to settle federal complaints against the company.

In addition to paying a $12.25 million civil penalty, the settlement agreement mandates that Fitbit uphold internal controls and procedures to ensure adherence to the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). This includes making improvements to its compliance program.

Furthermore, Fitbit has agreed to submit an annual report detailing its compliance program, internal controls, and the results of an internal audit assessing the effectiveness of its compliance policies, procedures, systems, and training.

The CPSC has provisionally accepted Fitbit’s settlement agreement by a vote of five to zero, subject to public comment.