Fitbit Fined $12.25M Over Ionic Smartwatch Burn Incidents

The penalty stems from delayed reporting of overheating battery risks that caused injuries to dozens of users.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) fined Fitbit $12.25 million for failing to promptly report battery overheating issues in its Ionic smartwatches.
From 2018 to 2020, Fitbit received 115 reports of overheating in the U.S., with 78 burn injuries, including two third-degree burns and four second-degree burns.
Fitbit discontinued the Ionic in 2020 and issued a recall of 1.7 million units globally in March 2022 after attempts to mitigate the issue with a firmware update failed.
As part of the settlement, Fitbit must enhance compliance measures, including internal audits and annual reporting to the CPSC.
Google, which acquired Fitbit in 2021, declined to comment on why the issue was not immediately reported but stated that customer safety remains a priority.