16,700 Icon Epic treadmills recalled: Possible fold-up shock repair

Icon Health & Fitness is recalling 16,700 Epic T60 treadmills in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission due to a possibility of a shock part being damaged and propelling out of the treadmill.

The voluntary action, announced on Aug. 3 but brought to the CPSC by Icon in the spring, was prompted by two reports of foot injuries and five reports of minor property damage because of shock parts springing out of the treadmill. The CPSC said this may occur if assembly instructions are not properly followed. In that case, the gas spring/shock can be damaged during assembly if the walking platform is folded up and goes beyond the vertical position. If damaged, it can then propel out of the treadmill and hurt the user, bystanders or property.

“This is an interesting situation where consumers weren’t following the directions for assembling the treadmills,” Colleen Logan, Icon vice president of marketing, told SNEWS®. “The fix is really easy.”

Logan said what happened is that consumers were tipping up the deck first before assembling the uprights, despite the manual saying otherwise, and that could stress the shock of the lift-assist and bend the brackets.

Manufactured in the United States, the Epic T60 treadmills were sold between September 2004 and February 2005 at Costco stores nationwide for between $900 and $1,000.

This is the second recall of exercise equipment in less than week with Sportcraft recalling 12,000 treadmills in late July due to unexpected acceleration. (See SNEWS® story, July 29, 2005, “Sportcraft recalls 12,000 treadmills due to unexpected speed-up.”)

The CPSC has told consumers to stop using the treadmill and contact Icon at 800-999-3756 or www.iconfitness.com to determine if their treadmill has been damaged and to obtain revised assembly instructions and warning decals, as well as to schedule possible free inspection and repair by technicians.

The company’s website features a prominent link to CPSC information at the top of the home page.

To see the CPSC statement and a picture of the treadmill, click here.