An Ebike Company Was Sued for Misleading Info on Safety. It Points to a Big Problem
An Ebike Company Was Sued for Misleading Info on Safety. It Points to a Big Problem
一家电动自行车公司因误导性安全信息被起诉，这揭示了一个重大问题
Amazon and UL, a company that tests and certifies that products meet safety standards, settled a lawsuit in July with several Chinese companies that manufacture ebikes under the Aipas brand name. 亚马逊（Amazon）与负责产品安全标准测试及认证的机构 UL 公司，于今年 7 月与几家生产 Aipas 品牌电动自行车的中国公司达成了一项诉讼和解。
The US companies accused the Chinese firms in January of claiming in Amazon listings and on Aipas’ website that the ebikes had been certified by UL, giving recognizable, brand-name assurance to online shoppers worried about risks like ebike lithium-ion battery fires. But that wasn’t true. On July 15, a federal judge signed off on a permanent injunction in which the companies agreed that they would no longer use the UL mark. It also bars them from “assisting, aiding, or abetting any other person or business” in doing the same. 今年 1 月，这两家美国公司指控这些中国企业在亚马逊商品页面和 Aipas 官网上谎称其电动自行车已通过 UL 认证，从而向担心锂电池起火等风险的网购消费者提供品牌背书。但事实并非如此。7 月 15 日，联邦法官签署了一项永久禁令，涉事公司同意不再使用 UL 标志，并被禁止“协助、帮助或教唆任何其他个人或企业”进行此类行为。
The filing notes that the Chinese companies didn’t admit liability or wrongdoing tied to Amazon’s and UL’s accusations of knowingly using fraudulent safety-certification marks. (The enterprises 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.) 法律文件指出，这些中国公司并未承认亚马逊和 UL 关于其蓄意使用虚假安全认证标志的指控，也未承认相关责任或不当行为。（涉事企业包括江门市美佳盛自行车有限公司、香港曼彻斯特国际贸易有限公司、深圳市艾博斯运动科技有限公司、广州市艾尔菲乐运动科技有限公司，以及诉讼中指控参与亚马逊销售账户运营的个人唐书慧。）
But WIRED has found a Facebook account associated with Aipas Ebike still running ads that include UL’s bright red logo. A WIRED reporter was served one of the ads in mid-July, even after the companies had 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’s Ad Library. Another active ad including the UL mark and first posted in May appeared to disappear from the Ad Library after WIRED contacted both Aipas and UL for comment. 然而，《连线》（WIRED）发现，一个与 Aipas Ebike 关联的 Facebook 账号仍在投放包含 UL 鲜红色标志的广告。即便在涉事公司同意永久禁令后，一名《连线》记者在 7 月中旬仍收到了此类广告。根据 Meta 的广告资料库显示，至少还有另一则使用 UL 标志的广告自 4 月起就在 Facebook 上持续投放，而此时距离诉讼提起已过去数月。另一则包含 UL 标志且于 5 月首次发布的广告，在《连线》联系 Aipas 和 UL 寻求置评后，似乎从广告资料库中消失了。
WIRED also found that while some Aipas ebikes and their batteries did eventually receive safety certifications from a nationally recognized organization, seemingly months after the company began advertising its UL safety marks, some of those certificates are now inactive. 《连线》还发现，虽然部分 Aipas 电动自行车及其电池最终确实获得了国家认可机构的安全认证（似乎是在该公司开始宣传其 UL 安全标志数月之后），但其中一些证书目前已失效。
A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment on the lawsuit. Bradley Carlson, a spokesperson for UL, also declined to comment on the lawsuit but said the UL team is “aware and working to resolve” the issues related to the Facebook ads. Neither Aipas Ebike nor the lawyer representing the Chinese businesses in court responded to multiple requests for comment. 亚马逊发言人拒绝就此诉讼发表评论。UL 发言人布拉德利·卡尔森（Bradley Carlson）也拒绝置评，但表示 UL 团队“已知悉并正在努力解决”与 Facebook 广告相关的问题。Aipas Ebike 以及代表这些中国企业的法庭律师均未回应多次置评请求。
While fights over fraudulent product safety certifications don’t always break out into public view, “this is a common problem and has been a common problem for quite some time,” says Donald Mays, a longtime product safety expert who now runs his own consulting firm. 长期从事产品安全工作、现经营个人咨询公司的专家唐纳德·梅斯（Donald Mays）表示，虽然关于虚假产品安全认证的纠纷并不总是进入公众视野，但“这是一个普遍存在的问题，而且已经存在很长一段时间了。”
The trend has troubling implications, especially for electric mobility devices like ebikes. A report published by the US government in April found that 45 fatalities between 2017 and 2024 were associated with fires related to lithium-ion batteries in mobility devices, 19 of them related to ebikes alone. The New York City Fire Department, which tracks lithium-ion battery fires, logged 277 fires tied to the tech in 2024, compared with 268 in 2023, and linked them to ebikes. 这一趋势带来了令人担忧的影响，尤其是对于电动自行车等电动交通工具而言。美国政府 4 月发布的一份报告显示，2017 年至 2024 年间，有 45 起死亡事故与交通工具锂电池起火有关，其中 19 起仅与电动自行车有关。追踪锂电池火灾的纽约市消防局记录显示，2024 年与该技术相关的火灾为 277 起（2023 年为 268 起），并将其归因于电动自行车。
Many of the country’s ebike fires were associated with replacement battery packs, as noted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an independent federal agency. The agency has urged consumers to use only micromobility devices “designed, manufactured, and certified for compliance by an accredited laboratory with the applicable consensus safety standards,” according to its website. 美国独立联邦机构消费品安全委员会（CPSC）指出，该国许多电动自行车火灾都与更换电池组有关。该机构在其网站上敦促消费者仅使用那些“由认可实验室根据适用的共识安全标准进行设计、制造并认证合规”的微型交通工具。
The false 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 to buy a counterfeit product, period, from third-party sellers, they are more at risk to buy a product with a fabricated certification mark,” she says. In general, retailers who sell products to consumers directly, rather than simply hosting sales, do a better job of guaranteeing their merchandise’s safety claims, she says; these retailers usually have internal compliance programs to verify manufacturers’ basic safety claims. 《消费者报告》（Consumer Reports）高级政策分析师盖比·奈特（Gabe Knight）表示，虚假认证在亚马逊等在线市场上更为普遍。她说：“正如消费者从第三方卖家那里买到假货的风险更高一样，他们买到带有伪造认证标志产品的风险也更高。”她指出，通常情况下，直接向消费者销售产品而非仅仅提供销售平台的零售商，在保证商品安全声明方面做得更好；这些零售商通常拥有内部合规计划来核实制造商的基本安全声明。
“It’s really polluting the marketplace when consumers can’t trust the information they see online,” Knight says. 奈特说：“当消费者无法信任他们在网上看到的信息时，这确实是在污染市场环境。”
The US government seems to be interested in cracking down on fake safety certifications. In May, the Consumer Product Safety Commission posted that it is “aware of instances in which the misuse of certification marks appears to be part of broader efforts to evade US safety requirements.” It asked for public input to better understand the prevalence of counterfeit marks. 美国政府似乎有意打击虚假安全认证。5 月，消费品安全委员会发布公告称，已“注意到一些滥用认证标志的情况，这似乎是逃避美国安全要求的更广泛手段的一部分”。该机构呼吁公众提供意见，以更好地了解伪造标志的普遍程度。
Separately, in June, the CPSC proposed a rule to establish federal mandatory safety standards for the lithium-ion batteries used in micromobility products, including ebikes. (Some but not all states and local governments require lithium-ion batteries sold in their localities to meet mandatory safety standards, though there are federal standards for shipping batteries.) The agency will accept public comments through August. Spokespeople for the CPSC did not respond to WIRED’s questions. 此外，CPSC 在 6 月提出了一项规则，旨在为包括电动自行车在内的微型交通工具所使用的锂电池建立联邦强制性安全标准。（尽管有关于运输电池的联邦标准，但只有部分州和地方政府要求在其辖区内销售的锂电池必须符合强制性安全标准。）该机构将在 8 月底前接受公众意见。CPSC 发言人未回应《连线》的提问。
Scott Hardesty, a YouTube ebike reviewer who posted videos critical of Aipas last fall, says his interactions with the company pushed him to create a new reviewing procedure. “After dealing with them, I started making companies send me their UL certificates,” he tells WIRED. “I need them to send them to me in an email.” (Hardesty says he receives commissions from companies for ebike sales made through his YouTube channel.) 去年秋天发布视频批评 Aipas 的 YouTube 电动自行车评测博主斯科特·哈迪斯蒂（Scott Hardesty）表示，他与该公司的交涉促使他建立了一套新的评测流程。他告诉《连线》：“在与他们打交道后，我开始要求公司把 UL 证书发给我。我需要他们通过电子邮件发送给我。”（哈迪斯蒂表示，他会从通过其 YouTube 频道销售的电动自行车中获取佣金。）
In the Aipas lawsuit, lawyers for UL and Amazon said the companies were cracking down on counterfeits and fraudulent claims. They pointed to seven other recent legal actions against companies using fraudulent safety certification marks, including one 2023 case in which both Amazon and UL sued several Chinese companies for illegally using UL marks on smoke detectors without obtaining the required safety testing. 在 Aipas 的诉讼案中，UL 和亚马逊的律师表示，这两家公司正在严厉打击假冒伪劣产品和欺诈性声明。他们列举了近期针对使用虚假安全认证标志公司的另外七起法律行动，其中包括 2023 年的一起案件：亚马逊和 UL 起诉了几家中国公司，指控其在未获得必要安全测试的情况下，在烟雾探测器上非法使用 UL 标志。