Segway scooters recalled

NEW YORK — The injuries that caused Segway Inc. to recall its scooters on Thursday were not numerous, but they sure sound painful: Broken teeth, a broken wrist and some banged-up faces, including one that needed surgery to repair.

There were only six reported incidents in total, including one from a child, but the company believes they all stem from a glitch in the self-balancing, two-wheeled vehicle’s software that — in rare instances — causes its wheels to reverse direction in a sudden, unexpected motion that can jerk riders off their feet.

Despite the bruised faces, Segway Inc. Chief Executive Jim Norrod does not believe the company’s reputation will be left with a black eye.

“We don’t see that it will have a negative impact on business at all,” Norrod said. Segway’s network of distributors seems pleased with the way it has handled the recall, Norrod said, pointing out that the company figured out the problem on its own, without the prodding of regulators.

“Any injury is too much to us,” said Norrod. “This company has built its reputation upon its commitment to safety. From day one, that was and has been our goal.”

The recall involves all 23,500 of the Segway Personal Transporters that the company has shipped to date. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, with whom Segway is cooperating on the voluntary recall, said consumers should stop using the vehicles immediately. The scooters were previously known as the Human Transporter.

Segway is offering its customers, which include more than 150 police departments around the world, a free software upgrade that will fix the problem. The upgrades will be done at Segway’s more than 100 dealerships and service centers around the world, according to company spokeswoman Carla Vallone, and the Bedford, N.H.-based company will pay to ship the devices to the appropriate center if need be.

It is the second time the scooters, which sell for about $4,000 to $5,500, have been recalled since they first went on sale in 2002. The 2003 recall involved the first 6,000 of the devices sold, and involved a problem that could cause riders to fall off the device when its battery ran out of juice.

The scooter’s speed is determined by how far forward users lean, and if the riders lean too far forward, a “speed limiter” pushes them back to keep the device at its maximum speed of 12.5 mph. The problem happens after the speed limiter tilts back, then the rider steps off the device and gets back on it quickly.