Peloton says federal investigators seek records related to injuries, recall

Aug. 27 (UPI) -- In a government filing on Friday, treadmill maker Peloton said it's being investigated by regulators and asked by authorities to provide records over injuries related to its products that eventually led to a safety recall.

The company initiated the recall in May after weeks of reports about users being injured while using two Peloton treadmills. Peloton initially resisted a recall but ultimately relented after pressure from regulators and bad publicity surrounding the equipment.

Friday, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it's received subpoenas from the departments of Justice and Homeland Security that seek documents related to the injuries.

Peloton also said in the filing that it's being investigated by the SEC over the company's public disclosures related to the injuries. The company also faces several lawsuits associated with the accidents.

Upon initial reports of injuries linked to its Tread and Tread+ machines, Peloton CEO John Foley sent a warning to owners urging them to keep children and pets away from the treadmills. The company did not, however, issue a recall.

In April, the Consumer Product Safety Commission warned Peloton owners to stop using the machines. A few weeks later, the company agreed to a recall and apologized for not doing so earlier.

The CPSC said at the time that it was aware of more than three dozen reports of children being drawn into the roller apparatus on the machines. One child died.

Aside from the SEC filing, Peloton did not comment on the federal investigations on Friday.

Peloton claims about 6 million members and said Thursday it generated $4 billion in revenues for fiscal 2021.