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Frame from Peloton Tread+ Treadmill Safety Incident Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Peloton Tread+ Treadmill Safety Incident

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
News
YouTube
Cited on HN 8 times, 2021–2022, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN cites it as evidence in debates over the treadmill's design flaw and parental responsibility, often with a warning that it is disturbing.

A short silent video from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission warning consumers to stop using the Peloton Tread+. It shows a child being pulled under the treadmill, and it preceded Peloton's recall.

5 citations · 3 critical · News · news from the time

8 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@rgbrenner Apr 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Regulators urge safety recall of Peloton treadmill after child dies
Most treadmills have a guard or plastic covering on the bottom that stops the tread from pulling something underneath it. From pictures, the peloton treadmill doesnt have this... so I would guess if anything gets between the back of the device and the floor, it'll pull it under the machine. Edit: confirmed (warning: video shows a child being injured): [this video]
Shows child pulled under treadmill, confirming missing guard
@omnicognate Apr 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Regulators urge safety recall of Peloton treadmill after child dies
If you do a google images search for "running treadmill" you'll see most of them have some design aspect that would prevent the accident shown in the video, most commonly a bar or guard of some sort that would stop a child or large object being dragged under. Edit: in case you haven't seen the video: [this video]
Shows the accident other treadmill designs would prevent
@hagy Apr 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Regulators urge safety recall of Peloton treadmill after child dies
Read more
I agree. The CPSC graphic video [0], graphically demonstrates the "safety failure" of a Pelton treadmill with two young children playing on an active treadmill unsupervised. While I certainly agree Pelton and other manufactures should attempt to mitigate the dangers of such a negligent situation, I was astonished that parents would allow this to happen. Imagine the same video, but replace the treadmill with a loaded bench press. Pelton highlights that there is a safety key required to operate the machine and that parents are instructed to store it in a secure location inaccessible to children. [1] No treadmill manufacturer can ever fully eliminate the dangers of an active treadmill to young children and pets, and therefore I think this safety key is the essential piece. I find this similar to locking power tools away from curious young hands. I don't want this to lead to additional regulation and compliance. Such regulation could even mislead consumers as to the danger of a treadmill. E.g., requiring some autodetection of a stuck belt to stop the motor. A foolproof mechanism would be not only expensive, but require regular inspection and maintenance to guarantee it performs this function. One could trust this mechanism while neglecting maintenance and therefore be further negligent in not securing the safety key away from children. [0] [this video] [1] [link]
Cites CPSC video while arguing parental responsibility over regulation
@Johnny555 May 2021 Cites it
on HN thread Peloton recalling all treadmills after reports of injuries, one death
Did you watch the video that was widely circulated in the news? A child is playing with a ball (around 12" in diameter), it gets sucked under and traps his hands, then the treadmill pulls his entire body under as the treadmill itself (which weighs 300-450lb) moves on top of him. In this case the child was lucky that the ball didn't burst so he was able to climb back out. [this video]
Describes what the widely circulated video shows
@romwell Apr 2021 Pushes back
on HN thread Regulators urge safety recall of Peloton treadmill after child dies
There are many treadmills out there. And those treadmills don't tell to pull people underneath them , like this device did. Let's not be facetious here, Peloton didn't get CPSC's attention because it is a treadmill -- it got that attention because it is an unsafe treadmill. As far as treadmills go, preventing being pulled underneath has been a solved problem. EDIT: compare and contrast: what Peloton does [1] vs. a $700 treadmill design [2]. [1] [this video] [2] [link]
@fastball May 2021 Pushes back
on HN thread Peloton to invest $400M to build its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Ohio
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. [1] [this video]

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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