A US regulator is advising owners of the original Peloton bike to stop using the exercise machine until the seat post has been replaced to avoid an injury risk.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced a voluntary recall for the PL01 model of exercise bike, which affects nearly 2.2 million machines sold in the country.
The problem is that the bike’s seat can break during use, which can cause the rider to fall and suffer an injury. “Peloton has received 35 reports of the seat post breaking and detaching from the bike during use, including 13 reports of injuries including a fractured wrist, lacerations, and bruises due to falling from the bike,” the commission said.
Peloton says it cooperated with the US regulator in announcing the voluntary recall. To fix the problem, the company is shipping an updated seat post to affected customers for free. The replacement part “can be installed at home, without the need for a service call,” it said. “One seat post replacement will be offered per Bike.”
Peloton plans on reaching out to affected customers. In addition, the company created a support site with more details about receiving the replacement part, and published a video on installing it. The video notes the updated seat post also contains a new “end cap,” and an “end cap bolt,” which are presumably more secure.
To learn if your bike is a PL01 model, the commission says the model number should be displayed “on the inside front fork, near the flywheel.” Peloton sold this model from January 2018 to March 2023 through retailers including Amazon, Dick’s Sporting Goods,and its own website.
For customers living outside the US, Peloton says: “There is no impact to Peloton Bike+ Members nor Peloton original Bike owners in the UK, Germany, and Australia.”