Peloton很难永远逃避公司管理不善的问题。这家健身器材和媒体公司同意支付1900万美元的罚金，与美国消费品安全委员会达成民事和解。CPSC在一份新闻声明中称，此前，该委员会曾指控Peloton在知情的情况下销售被召回的设备，并忽视其Tread+跑步机的设备缺陷，这些缺陷“可能会造成重大产品危害，并造成严重伤害的不合理风险”。周四的和解解决了这些指控。
Peloton的Tread+跑步机与2021年3月一名6岁儿童的死亡有关。美国消费品安全委员会随后的一份报告确定，这些机器还造成了宠物、儿童和成人的许多其他严重伤害——主要与身体部位被拉到跑步机的皮带下有关。美国消费品安全委员会于2021年4月向消费者发出紧急警告，称Peloton的Tread+跑步机对儿童和宠物的安全构成“严重风险”，并敦促该公司召回这款健身设备。但该公司进行了反击，拒绝召回其设备，并声称问题是误用，而不是机器本身。
直到它无法再与联邦监管机构争论为止。“当一家公司继续销售他们知道可能导致严重伤害或死亡的危险产品时，必须追究其责任，”美国消费品安全委员会主席亚历山大·霍恩-萨里奇在周四的一份声明中写道。
委员会最初发现Peloton收到了72份来自跑步机用户的事故报告。周四，该监管机构透露，该公司获悉了150多起人、宠物或物体被拉到机器下面的报告，其中至少有13起涉及骨折和摩擦烧伤等严重伤害。
Peloton于2021年5月自愿召回其Tread+和更便宜的Tread跑步机。根据CPSC的说法，“Tread+”召回与高板条带和缺乏护栏造成的危险有关，这是该机器的独特设计。此次召回是在该设备在美国正式推出之前发布的，与触摸屏显示屏在使用过程中脱落和掉落有关。
作为召回协议的一部分，该健身品牌同意停止在美国销售和分销跑步机，并向想要退还机器的客户提供全额退款。对于那些更愿意保留他们的设备的客户，Peloton发布了一个软件更新，用密码锁定Tread+(这个“修复”有自己的复杂问题)，并提出免费将客户的跑步机转移到没有宠物和孩子的房间。但对消费品安全委员会来说，该公司的回应太少，也太迟了。该委员会声称，Peloton的拖延行动未能及时向监管机构报告。美国消费品安全委员会还声称，Peloton违反了《消费品安全法》，在5月份召回几个月后的2021年8月，继续销售Tread+跑步机。
该公司现在必须支付1900万美元的罚款来解决这些指控，这是Peloton在几个月的困难之后遭受的又一次财务打击。虽然该公司在2021年11月重新推出了一款Tread设备，但Tread+仍未上市。2022年1月，内部文件显示，随着召回事件的发生，以及新冠时期人们回到办公室和健身房，在家健身的受欢迎程度下降，该公司正走向财务破产。作为回应，它提高了订阅价格，实施了大规模裁员，并退出了制造业-将其生产外包给台湾公司Rexon。
在发给Gizmodo的一份声明中，Peloton表示，很高兴达成了这一和解，并表示“将继续致力于我们会员的安全和福祉，并不断改进我们的产品。”该发言人接着表示，该公司“将继续寻求美国消费品安全委员会对Tread+后部护罩的批准，这将进一步增强其安全功能。”
即使该公司成功熬过了这场动荡，联邦监管机构也不会放过它。根据和解协议，Peloton必须遵守美国消费品安全委员会的其他条款，比如维持“强化合规计划”，并加强内部安全测试。该公司还必须就未来五年的产品安全性和合规性提交年度报告。
原文：
Peloton couldn’t run away from the consequences of corporate mis-management forever. The fitness equipment and media company has agreed to pay a $19 million penalty in a civil case settlement with the Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Previously, the commission had charged Peloton with knowingly distributing a recalled device and ignoring device defects in its Tread+ treadmill that could “could create a substantial product hazard and created an unreasonable risk of serious injury,” said the CPSC in a press statement. Thursday’s settlement resolves those charges.
Peloton’s Tread+ treadmill was linked with the death of a 6-year old child in March 2021. A subsequent CPSC report determined that the machines were also involved in numerous other severe injuries among pets, children, and adults—largely related to body parts being pulled under the treadmill’s belt. The CPSC issued an urgent warning to consumers in April 2021 that Peloton’s Tread+ treadmill posed a “serious risk” to the safety of children and pets, and urged the company to recall the fitness device. But the company fought back, refusing to recall its equipment and claiming the issue was one of misuse, not the machines themselves.
That is, until it couldn’t argue with the federal regulator anymore. “When a company continues to sell dangerous products that they know can cause serious injury or death, it must be held accountable,” wrote CPSC Chair, Alexander Hoehn-Saric in a Thursday statement.
The commission initially found that Peloton had received 72 incident reports from its treadmill users. And on Thursday, the watchdog revealed the company had knowledge of more than 150 reports of people, pets, or objects being pulled under the machines—at least 13 involving significant injuries like broken bones and friction burns.
Peloton issued voluntary recalls of both its Tread+ and cheaper Tread treadmills in May 2021. The Tread+ recall was related to danger posed by the high slatted belt and lack of guardrail, unique to the machine’s design, according to the CPSC. While the Tread recall, issued before the device even formally launched in the U.S., had to do with touchscreen displays detaching and falling while in use.
As part of the recall agreement, the fitness brand agreed to stop selling and distributing the treadmills in the U.S., and to offer full refunds to customers who wanted to return their machines. For customers who preferred to keep their equipment, Peloton issued a software update to lock the Tread+ with a passcode (a “fix” that came with its own complications), and offered to relocate customers’ treadmills to pet and child-free rooms at no cost.
Though the company’s response was too little, too late for the CPSC. The commission alleged that Peloton’s delayed actions constituted a failure to timely report to the regulator. The CPSC also claimed that Peloton violated the Consumer Products Safety Act by continuing to distribute the Tread+ treadmills up until August 2021, months after the May recall.
The $19 million fine the company now has to pay to settle those charges is another financial hit on top of months of difficulty for Peloton. Though it re-introduced a version of its Tread device in November 2021, the Tread+ remains off the market. In January 2022, internal documents revealed that the company was careening towards financial ruin amid the recalls and the declining popularity of covid-era at-home fitness as people returned to offices and gyms. In response, it raised subscription prices, enacted mass layoffs, and exited manufacturing— outsourcing its production to Taiwanese company, Rexon.
In a statement sent to Gizmodo, Peloton said it was pleased to have reached this settlement and said it “remains deeply committed to the safety and well-being of our members and to the continuous improvement of our products.” The spokesperson went on to say the company “continues to pursue the CPSC’s approval of a Tread+ rear guard that would further augment its safety features.”
Even if the company manages to outlast the turbulence though, it still won’t be done with the federal regulator. According to the settlement, Peloton has to comply with additional CPSC terms, like maintaining “an enhanced compliance program” and upping its internal safety testing. The company will also have to file annual reports on its product safety and compliance for the next five years.
本文由数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）翻译而成，作者：Lauren Leffer；编辑/翻译：数字化转型网默然。
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