CPSC Finds Existing Micromobility Safety Standards Inadequate

The CPSC has preliminarily determined that the current voluntary micromobility standards (ANSI/CAN/UL/ULC) do not adequately address known lithium-ion battery hazards, and it is soliciting comments for proposed rulemaking that will mandate changes to prevent injury and property damage.

Federal Rulemaking With Immediate Subrogation Significance

On June 24, 2026, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) under 16 C.F.R. parts 1112 and 1265 addressing lithium-ion batteries and electrical systems in e-bikes, e-scooters, self-balancing scooters, e-skateboards, e-unicycles, and hybrid “micromobility” products. The proposal covers the battery, battery management system (BMS), charger, and other regulated electrical components as a system.

The NPR would require covered products to comply with ANSI/CAN/UL 2849:2020, ANSI/CAN/UL 2272:2024, or ANSI/CAN/UL/ULC 2271:2023, as applicable, but with added performance and labeling requirements. That distinction matters: the Commission did not treat compliance with current voluntary standards as adequate for product safety.

The Loss Record Behind The Proposal

From 2019 through 2023, the CPSC identified 227 unique incidents involving micromobility lithium-ion battery hazards that the proposed rule potentially could have prevented. The record associates those incidents with 39 fatalities and 181 injuries. Fire accounted for 195 incidents, or 86% of the total.

Unique Incidents: 227

Fire Incidents: 195

Fatalities: 39

Injuries: 181

CPSC reported that 120 of the 227 incidents occurred while the product was plugged in and charging. Another 25 incidents involved removing or replacing battery packs or using an aftermarket battery or charger.

CPSC Finds That Existing Voluntary Standards Leave Material Gaps

Of critical importance to proving foreseeability and notice of hazards involving these products, the CPSC preliminarily found that, overall, the performance requirements in UL 2849-20, UL 2272-24, and UL 2271-23 are inadequate to eliminate or adequately reduce the unreasonable risks of injury because they do not address known hazards. The Commission also preliminarily determined that micromobility products do not substantially comply with the applicable voluntary standards.

The proposed modifications include, among other suggestions:

• A reverse-polarity charging test intended to reduce battery damage from an incompatible charger;
• Post-discharge charging requirements intended to ensure that a BMS prevents charging when cell temperature exceeds specified limits;
• Tamper-resistant battery enclosure requirements; and
• Revised warnings addressing foreseeable use and misuse, unsafe charging, thermal runaway, and electric-shock hazards.

What the NPR Does, And Does Not, Prove

The NPR is not a final rule. It is a substantial federal technical record that proves notice of known foreseeable hazards in the e-bike, e-scooter, e-skateboard, and micromobility industry. Most importantly, the CPSC put the micromobility industry on notice about gaps in existing voluntary standards that are often relied upon as a defense in design-defect product liability claims. Indeed, the NPR documents recurring charging and aftermarket-component incident patterns and propose additional safeguards directed at those hazards.

For a subrogation case, the NPR is relevant to notice, foreseeability, the adequacy of voluntary-standard compliance, the feasibility of alternative designs, the scope of expert testing, and rebuttal of a defense that UL certification alone establishes reasonable care. The legal effect may depend on the product, sale date, jurisdiction, evidence, and expert analysis.

What Subrogation Practitioners Should Do Now

• Place micromobility manufacturers on notice of claims involving their products. Retain the battery, BMS, charger, charging port, wiring, adapters, packaging, manuals, labels, and any recovered electronic components.
• Identify the charger involved and record model, output voltage and current, connector geometry, polarity, warning tags, and whether the charger was OEM, replacement, aftermarket, or borrowed from another product.
• Secure digital evidence early. Collect doorbell-camera, garage-camera, smart-plug, charger, app, alarm, and dispatch data before routine retention periods expire.
• Document the charging timeline. Establish when charging began, whether the charger remained connected, when smoke or fire first appeared, and whether the product had been used, discharged, repaired, or modified.
• Retain the right experts. Many losses require coordinated origin-and-cause, electrical engineering, battery science, materials analysis, and digital-evidence work.
• Do not stop at the certification label. Determine the exact edition of the cited standard, what components and system configuration were certified, and whether the failure mode was actually evaluated by that edition.

Rulemaking Status

The written-comment period closed on August 24, 2026. The CPSC subsequently announced a virtual opportunity for oral presentations on October 21, 2026. The Commission will consider the rulemaking record before deciding whether to issue a final rule. Until then, the proposal remains a notice of proposed rulemaking, not a binding final safety standard. We will update our friends and clients on this issue as material developments occur.

Attorney Advertising. This alert is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Results depend on the facts and law applicable to each matter. Incident statistics reflect the CPSC rulemaking record and should not be treated as a complete census of all micromobility losses.

Sources

¹Safety Standard for Lithium-Ion Batteries Used in Micromobility Products and Electrical Systems of Micromobility Products Containing Such Batteries, 91 Fed. Reg. 38162 (June 24, 2026) (proposed rule), CPSC Docket No. CPSC-2025-0012.

²Safety Standard for Lithium-Ion Batteries Used in Micromobility Products and Electrical Systems of Micromobility Products Containing Such Batteries; Oral Presentation, 91 Fed. Reg. (Oct. 5, 2026), CPSC Docket No. CPSC-2025-0012.

³Cozen O'Connor, Subrogation & Recovery practice overview, accessed October 15, 2026