The other pedal has dropped at Peloton.
After initially refusing to recall its Tread+ treadmill over safety concerns, the connected fitness company has now agreed to recall all of its Tread treadmills.
Peloton announced the reversal on Wednesday in a joint statement with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
Anyone who has a Peloton Tread or Tread+ is being asked to stop using it immediately and contact the company. Customers who want to return the treadmill will be offered a full refund. Peloton has also agreed to stop selling the products in the United States, according to the announcement.
It’s a devastating blow for a firm that had been heavily capitalizing on the closure of gyms and a boom in at-home exercise during the pandemic, riding a wave of rapid growth to its first billion-dollar quarter in February.
In midday trading on Wednesday, Peloton shares were down almost 15%. The company’s stock has been on a downward slope since last month, when the CPSC first warned of 39 incidents in which small children or pets were injured by a Peloton treadmill. At least one child died.
At the time of the CPSC’s announcement, Peloton CEO John Foley was defiant, calling its press release “inaccurate and misleading.” In a follow-up statement today, a more contrite Foley agreed that the recall was the right decision.
“I want to be clear, Peloton made a mistake in our initial response to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s request that we recall the Tread+,” Foley said. “We should have engaged more productively with them from the outset. For that, I apologize.”
You can read the full announcement here.