Injury risk prompts mass Segway recall

Once touted as a landmark innovation in transportation, the Segway Personal Transporter has suffered another setback: the self-balancing scooter's parent company has recalled all of its currently available models due to a potentially dangerous software glitch.

After six Segway riders complained of head and wrist injuries, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission announced on Thursday in conjunction with Segway that all 23,500 of the vehicles sold between March 2002 (when they were first introduced) and mid-September 2006 were being voluntarily recalled.

According to the manufacturer, the 'speed limiter' in a Segway can cause it to tip backwards suddenly, throwing off the rider. Segway has already devised a fix for this bug, and owners are encouraged to contact the company for information about obtaining the software upgrade.

The Segway has experienced a rather bumpy journey since its inception, when rumours of a revolutionary new consumer product began to surface. The design and function of the device, whose code names included 'Ginger' and 'IT', were shrouded in secrecy, and the machine drew praise from technology luminaries such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Apple chief Steve Jobs.

But when the emission-free Segway was finally released, reactions were tepid. The company reshuffled management. In 2003, about a year and a half after the much-hyped 'Personal Transporter' was released, all of the Segways that had been sold at that point -- some 6,000 machines -- were recalled because of complaints of a power glitch that caused riders to fall off.

Since then, the Segway -- priced between $4,000 and $5,500 (£2,100-£3,000) -- has gained a reputation as a geeky novelty toy. Funny Segway videos have gained a solid footing on YouTube. A quirky game of Segway polo was among the notable events at April's Maker Faire, the hacker crafts showcase held in San Mateo, California, where Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak was featured among the mallet-wielding competitors. And, unfortunately, this new software-glitch recall probably won't help steer the Segway back onto the world-changing path its developers envisioned.

There's no word yet as to whether one of the six injury reports that led to the recall came from socialite Paris Hilton, who tried to use a Segway to make floor-mopping easier on her TV show The Simple Life, and promptly toppled over.