Ebike company has been sued for misleading safety information. Indicates a big problem

Amazon and UL, The company, which tests and certifies that products meet safety standards, settled a lawsuit in July with several Chinese companies that make e-bikes under the Aipas brand name.

American companies accused The Chinese companies claimed in January in Amazon listings and on the Aipas website that the e-bikes had been certified by UL, providing the assurance of brand name recognition to online shoppers concerned about risks like e-bike lithium-ion. Battery fires. But that wasn’t true. On July 15, a federal judge Signed Based on a permanent injunction in which the companies agreed to no longer use the UL mark. It also prohibits them from “aiding, aiding or abetting any other person or company” to do the same.

The filing notes that the Chinese companies have not admitted liability or wrongdoing related to accusations that Amazon and UL intentionally used fraudulent safety certification labels. (The companies involved are Jiangmen Meijiasheng Bicycle, Hong Kong Manchester International Trading, Shenzhen Aibosi Sport Technology, Guangzhou Aierfeile Sport Technology, and the individual Tang Shuhui, who the lawsuit alleges was involved in an Amazon selling account.)

But WIRED found A Facebook account Associated with Aipas Ebike which still displays ads that include the bright red UL logo. A WIRED reporter received one of the announcements in mid-July, even after the companies agreed to a permanent injunction. At least one other ad using the UL mark has been actively running on Facebook since April, months after the lawsuit was filed, according to Meta Ad Library. Another active ad featuring the UL tag that was first published in May appears to have disappeared from the ad library after WIRED contacted both Aipas and UL for comment.

WIRED also found that while some of Aipas’ e-bikes and batteries eventually received safety certifications from a nationally recognized organization, apparently months after the company began advertising its UL safety markings, some of those certifications are now inactive.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit. Bradley Carlson, a UL spokesman, also declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the UL team is “aware and working to resolve” the issues with Facebook ads. Neither Aipas Ebike nor the lawyer representing the Chinese companies in court responded to multiple requests for comment.

While battles over fraudulent product safety certifications don’t always come to light, “this is a common problem and has been a common problem for some time,” says Donald Mace, a longtime product safety expert who now runs His own consulting company.

This trend has worrying implications, especially for electric mobility devices such as e-bikes. a report Published by the US government It found in April that 45 deaths between 2017 and 2024 were related to fire-related fires. Lithium-ion batteries in mobile devices19 of which relate to e-bikes alone. The New York City Fire Department, which tracks lithium-ion battery fires, It has been registered 277 fires linked to the technology in 2024, compared to 268 in 2023, linked to e-bikes.

Many of the country’s e-bike fires have been linked to replaced battery packs, as noted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent federal agency. The agency urged consumers to only use micromobility devices that are “designed, manufactured and certified to comply by an accredited laboratory with applicable agreed-upon safety standards,” according to Its website.

Fake certification is more prevalent on online marketplaces like Amazon, says Gabe Knight, a senior policy analyst at Consumer Reports. “Just as consumers are more at risk of purchasing a counterfeit product from third-party sellers, they are more at risk of purchasing a product bearing a fabricated certification label,” she says. In general, retailers who sell products directly to consumers, rather than simply hosting sales, do a better job of ensuring safety claims for their merchandise, she says. These retailers typically have internal compliance programs to verify manufacturers’ basic safety claims.