Before riding a Onewheel, riders should familiarize themselves with some of the board's built in safety features that are designed to alert riders when to slow down, stop riding, or when it's time to re-charge their board.
These two safety features are: Haptic Buzz, and Pushback.
Before going into the details of how each safety feature works, it's important to understand that multiple variables will determine when a rider may experience Haptic Buzz/Pushback scenarios, including: Rider Weight, Tire Pressure, Terrain and Grade, and Battery Percentage. For example, a heavier rider riding uphill will experience Haptic Buzz/Pushback earlier than a lighter rider on flat terrain.
Haptic Buzz is a safety feature that was introduced via a firmware update to Onewheel Pint, Pint X, XR, and GT towards the end of 2023. New board purchased after 9/28/2023 from Onewheel.com will have Haptic Buzz installed by default. Haptic Buzz is an alert riders can hear and feel when experiencing certain situations that can result in a crash. Haptic Buzz is designed to work in conjunction with the existing pushback safety feature to help riders further recognize that the board’s ability to balance may soon be exceeded so they can lean back and slow down to avoid crashing.
Haptic Buzz can happen in the following scenarios:
1. High Speed Situations - When riders reach the top speed in any given digital shaping setting. This will happen as a pulse, but if a rider continues to accelerate, the buzz will go from a pulse to a solid buzz
2. High Torque Situations - If riders are going up a steep hill, or accelerating suddenly, more than the board can sustain
3. Low Battery or Error State - Riders will feel a double buzz to let them know to lean back, slow down and get off the board as the board's battery may be low, or there may be an error
If you would like more information on the new Haptic Buzz safety alert feature, watch our YouTube video below.
Pushback works in conjunction with Haptic Buzz by lifting the nose of the board to let riders know when they are pushing the limits or experiencing an error and riders need to lean back and slow down.
Pushback can happen in the following scenarios:
1. High Speed Situations - When riders reach the top speed in any given digital shaping setting. The nose of the board will lift to inform the rider to slow down
2. Low Battery or Error State - Riders will feel a extreme push back, where the front of the board will lift more aggressively letting riders know to slow down and get off the board
It is very important to respect and understand Haptic Buzz and Pushback. If ignored, riders risk falling off the board and potentially getting hurt.