The lawsuit comes after the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalled 1.7 million Fitbit Ionic smartwatches earlier this year because of problems with the batteries that led to 78 reported burns.
However, the new lawsuit, filed in Northern California, claims that the battery defects were not just confined to the Ionic, but that the “same defect exists throughout all” of Fitbit’s devices, according to a report in Ars Technica.
The lawsuit names two women who say they were burned by their Fitbit devices; one had a Fitbit Versa Light and the other a Fitbit Versa 2.
The lawsuit also cited multiple reports online of users experiencing burns from a number of Fitbit devices including the Fitbit Versa, Fitbit Versa 2, Fitbit Versa Light, Fitbit Charge 4, Fitbit Ionic, Fitbit Sense, Fitbit Alta HR, Fitbit Inspire, Fitbit Inspire HR, and Fitbit Blaze.
According to the lawsuit, Fitbit has blamed "skin irritation" or "friction" for the burns. However, the lawsuit claims that these products can "overheat and pose a significant hazard for burns and fires" due to a defect in "the battery and charging system."
Fitbit was bought by Google in 2021 and many of the devices cited in the lawsuit were developed prior to the acquisition. The Ionic, for example, came out in 2017 with production of the smartwatch stopping in 2020.