Photoelectric safety switch between the back legs would’ve also worked (like a garage door beam), depending on how sturdy those legs are mounted for alignment.

Sorry but F that, this is a job for a physical barrier. It can still be up on legs but cover the meat grinder ffs.

To be fair there probably isn’t a meat grinder under there - it will just be a belt that runs to the front.

The deaths will probably have been from crushing.

Have you ever used a belt sander?

As someone who has accidentally removed part of their finger by getting it trapped in the pinch point of a belt sander, ouch. Yes, this is exactly the same arrangement, and I can see it causing very severe injuries very quickly.

I don’t think this is exactly the same arrangement - the belt goes “all the way around” on this where the pinch point is between the belt and the ground rather than the belt and the internals of the sander.

Here the force is the weight of the peloton unit, rather than the motor pulling you into a fixed width gap.

Shitty diagram to show what I mean: https://imgur.com/a/TstPxtb

The belt on the peloton doesn’t go inside the device, it runs fully on the outside all the way around and underneath.

That was my point, applying pressure to the object held against a belt sander is how you remove material. Those slats probably have some kind of tread on them which makes this a 500W, couple hundred pound belt sander capable of flaying small pets and children. If you have a strong stomach you can look up “belt sander injuries” to get an idea of what I’m talking about.

I was thinking this as well. For how much tech this thing seems to have, and for such a high price tag, they could easily justify putting, I don't know, two or three IR sensors down there.

It’s actually not that expensive for a high end treadmill. Go check prices on True and Landice brands.

None of this excuses Peloton. This is a uniquely dangerous treadmill due to its large diameter rollers and deck height.

All it needs is a guard under the deck and a better safety key mechanism.

They are high end in price and classes, generally considered cheap construction

These all introduce failure points for the product. Bit of dust floats under the treadmill and now it’s not working and you have an angry customer.

Better an angry customer than a dead child?

Maybe but this is rarely the option we pick in the world. Thousands of children could be saved yearly by lowering the speed limits on roads but we don’t do it.

Thousands of non functional products can ruin the company while this event could be explained with “Don’t allow children around running and dangerous equipment.” You wouldn’t allow small children around a running lawn mower or car and a treadmill requires the same level of respect.

All the lawn mowers I've seen at least have a safety mechanism where they stop as soon as you let go of the handle. And the dangerous parts are shielded on all sides during normal operation.

The peloton in the video has no protection to prevent dragging something underneath it, and just kept going as it dragged the kid under it. The motor stalled, locking the kid, then started dragging again as soon as the kid managed to almost get free.

This won’t work if your tall. On fast runs my ankles routinely left the back of the treadmill. Keeping your torso tracked in the “middle” is harder the more fatigued you get. A sudden e-stop will fuck you up if your running at 8mph.

I'd expect that they would just cut power to the motor, so it would not be an instantaneous stop. It would take a second or two. That probably wouldn't fuck you up.

Remember that on a treadmill you are running in place. You don't actually have any forward momentum, so you don't have to worry about slamming into the console at 8 mph. It's not like if you were running outdoors and someone suddenly put an obstacle a few feet in front of you.

You should just have maybe a little stumble, at most requiring that you use the rails to steady yourself.

Here's a video of someone running when power was cut to their gym [1]. The power goes out at 1:07.

It's probably worth actually testing this at various speeds working up to your normal maximum speed. I've done that (although I just do fast walks, not running) because one of the reasons I might be on the treadmill instead of outside is bad weather, which is sometimes accompanied by power failures, and I wanted to know if I should avoid the treadmill during those times.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvGp-FbE1TM

The back legs are below the treadmill, not behind it, so I don't think this would be an issue?

Not enough. There is a ton of inertia in that system.

It wasn't that. It was the torque and incessant "gotta go" programming in the motor. If the speed is stuck at zero mph and the motor tried more than 5 seconds without changing the belt speed CUTOFF immediately.

Should have an IMU too, if the whole thing has a big movement, cut off (tuned not to cut off from fattest runner running).

More than that, they could put multiple weight sensors on the platform to make sure an adult is on it in order for it to start and continue operating. As an added benefit, it could use the signals from the sensors to detect roughly where the user is stepping, how hard they're hitting it, how frequently, etc. That would be useful for gait analysis and other fitness-related stuff.

Additionally, a sensor on the motor could detect a sudden increase in power required to keep the belt spinning at a particular speed (such as something getting under it). This would trigger an emergency stop and possibly an audible alarm.

It's not very clear, but from the last two descriptions it sounds to me like it has a shutoff sensor that can engage by accident or leave a child under the "off" machine.

A small pet being stuck wouldn't necessarily raise the legs.

Of course, no single safeguard will prevent 100% of possible accidents. What is your point?