As I said in that thread: there was never anything wrong with their treadmills. They function exactly like all of their competitors treadmills WRT: dangerous for pets and small children.
On top of the safety key which was easily removable, they've now added a PIN on top - so if pulling out the magnetic key is too much effort you don't even have to do that.
In that very thread the top comment thread is specifically about the treadmills lacking a "guard or plastic covering on the bottom that stops the tread from pulling something underneath."
that too me is something that would fall under a "factory fix."
Which was a silly suggestion, and if you look at their competitors (nordic track being the primary) - they have no such plastic guard. Their fix is a pin, you can return the treadmill if you don't like that option.
The only thing that plastic guard will do is create a spot for clothing and fingers to get caught.
Yes, a plastic guard creates opportunities for catching fingers and clothing, but (unsurprisingly) people think this is preferable to their child's head getting caught in the treadmill[1]. A child was killed by one of these things.
It is absolutely a massive design flaw that this treadmill lacks a protective guard and/or an automatic cutoff that triggers when it sees an unexpected level of resistance. You know, like if a child's head gets caught in it.
Which, again, happens with all treadmills, because they are dangerous. Which is why there is a security key and a giant warning to keep small children and pets away from it.
Most treadmills are advertised as gym equipment rather than home equipment.
Most gym areas have restrictions such as not allowing kids under a specific age (I can't remember the exact number, I think it was 14). Even gyms in residential buildings have this restriction.
Now, many treadmills don't have enough space under them to enable the kind of stuff that Peloton treadmills do to pets and kids ("sucking" them under the treadmill and killing them).
It doesn't happen with all treadmills, it happens on treadmills without a guard. You pointing to other flawed designs doesn't make Peloton's design less flawed.
I'd challenge you to find me 10 treadmills that have the guard you speak of. I have personally looked at probably 2 dozen treadmills in my life while shopping. Run on hundreds in gyms across the globe. I can't think of a single treadmill I've ever come across with a plastic guard across the bottom. I have no doubt a few exist but I would be absolutely shocked to find out they exist in a meaningful enough number to be anything but a rounding error.
I'd challenge you to do the opposite, because my experience is apparently the antithesis of yours. I have run on treadmills in gyms all over the world as well and I can't remember using a single one that didn't have better protection from sucking small things into it than the Peloton. Every treadmill I've used (as far as I can recall) either had a much more enclosed back or a (usually metal) bar to prevent exactly the situation that occurred in the video I posted.
I'm not, because I remove the safety key when I'm not using it. It takes literally 1 second, it's a magnetic key. The amount of effort to install and remove it is a fraction of what it takes to tie my shoes before a run.
If someone leaves a loaded gun on the kitchen counter and leaves it for an unsupervised child to play with, do you blame the gun manufacturer, or the parent?
Please make your substantive points without falling into the flamewar style and especially without escalating to personal attack. When someone else is wrong, it suffices to supply correct information.
I knew I'd probably get flagged for this, and I'm sorry for devolving this thread. A close friend's child was severely maimed as a result of this defect, so when someone with nothing at stake shares an opinion that "nothing is wrong", it struck a nerve. Only sending love.
Edit: This is the first time in over a decade on HN that I've posted an apology and been downvoted for it. Is this kind of followup against site guidelines or discouraged? I'm trying to understand what I've done wrong here. This feels incredibly toxic.
I'm sorry to hear about your friend's child. That would be the kind of detail that would make the original comment much more meaningful and relatable, though of course it's also a sensitive thing that one might not want to include.
I wouldn't worry about the occasional errant downvote; if it isn't a noticeable pattern, it's best to remember that misclicks are a thing, and just move on. People will usually give corrective upvotes in such cases (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...). If it does become a noticeable pattern, then it's best to reflect on what in one's comments might be giving rise to it, because the odds in that case are that there's something worth adjusting.
Well, the choice of location may offer some legal preference in case of future faults. I'm aware that Ohio has a safe harbour law to protect companies against data breach if they comply with certain criteria they outline. So may well be other such safe harbour legislation that would be favourable for liability mitigation and with that, insurance liability reduction.
So may well be many nuances at play in this selection, or might even be down to some CEO living nearby and just wants to pop a made local/USA sticker on the product.
Dear people who are downvoting me: I’d appreciate if you shared some thoughts in the comments. Otherwise, you’re just being meaner than I was in my original comment.
I didn’t and don’t appear to be able to downvote, but your comment appears super orthogonal to the title subject, far enough afield to be considered trolling or just trying to drag Pelotons name through the mud in unrelated discussions. That to me would be what I would speculate led to the downvotes.
I’ve responded to a few of these “share if you’re downvoting” comments and usually they’re just a vehicle for an argument.
But whatever, I’ll do it this time too. I downvoted your comment because it bored me with how repetitive the idea it expresses is. I don’t need to go into every Apple thread and be reminded they have a walled garden, every Microsoft thread and reminded of their antitrust stuff, every Peloton thread and reminded of the treadmill. It was mainstream news in the US, dude.
I have only so much time and I don’t want to spend it reading the same thing over and over again.
Never Complain about downvoting - even if you think its unfair, its counter productive. Also, refraining (from complaining) will build the disagreement muscle and will check 'approval seeking' instincts.
Re https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26846641