A man in California has sued Amazon as well as the maker of an electric bike that he purchased on Amazon after he claims that the bike malfunctioned, resulting in a crash that left him severely injured.
According to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court last week, Robert Lewis suffered catastrophic injuries on December 30, 2024, when the handlebars on his foldable e-bike gave out, causing him to fall violently to the ground. The suit names both Actbest Technology Inc., listed as a Los Angeles-based manufacturer, and Amazon.com Inc. as defendants, alleging that both companies were negligent in manufacturing and selling the defective product.
The incident is the latest in a growing wave of safety concerns surrounding low-cost e-bikes sold through major online marketplaces, where oversight of product quality and safety warnings can be minimal or nonexistent.
While the suit does not name the exact model of e-bike involved in the crash, Actbest does sell an ultra low-cost $369 folding e-bike.
The complaint accuses Amazon of continuing to sell the bike in question, even after receiving consumer complaints alleging similar defects. “Consumers of Amazon reasonably relied on Amazon’s service to monitor product complaints and remove unsafe consumer products to prevent the sale of defective products,” the lawsuit reads. “Amazon negligently carries out this service by ignoring obvious design, manufacturing and warning defects. They would have been aware [of the danger] had they actually fulfilled the obligations they voluntarily assumed and promised consumers Amazon would implement.”
The mechanism that failed was apparently the handlebar locking system, which is crucial for folding e-bikes to function safely. According to the lawsuit, the failure of this system during Lewis’s ride caused the handlebars to collapse unexpectedly, resulting in a severe spinal cord injury that has rendered him paraplegic. His family, also named as plaintiffs, is seeking compensation for pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life.
Lewis’s legal team, led by Andrew Parker Felix of Morgan & Morgan, is seeking damages for medical costs, lost wages, and punitive damages, pointing to what they describe as a pattern of neglect by Amazon in dealing with dangerous products sold through its platform.
“Similar to the hoverboard phenomenon in the past,” the lawsuit reads, “the e-bikes distributed through and sold by Amazon.com are the latest example of Amazon seeking to profit off of a new consumer product space with complete disregard for the safety of its subscribers.”
While Amazon has previously argued that it acts only as a sales platform for third-party sellers, courts have increasingly scrutinized the tech giant’s role in product liability, especially in cases involving dangerous or defective products. There are cases that could serve as precedents where Amazon has been found liable for injurious products sold on its platform.
This lawsuit may further test where that liability begins and ends, particularly in fast-growing consumer categories like e-bikes, where regulatory standards and safety enforcement have struggled to keep pace with demand.
Neither Amazon nor Actbest has responded publicly to the claims, and details about the specific e-bike model involved have not yet been disclosed.
As e-bike adoption continues to rise, especially among budget-conscious consumers looking for affordable transport, the case raises deeper questions about how safety is – or isn’t – being prioritized in a booming but often unregulated product space.
via: Law360
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