Replies

I think you're being hard on the Segway. Being glad it failed isn't the right attitude to have. I, also, would have been surprised if it succeeded, for a lot of your aforementioned reasons.

Being happy that it failed because a bunch of bureaucrats with nothing better to do decided that you're too stupid to pay
attention to a battery low indicator is another thing.

I believed it was a worthwhile attempt, as long it wasn't on the taxpayer dime.

That's not why it's failing. It's failing because it's overpriced for it's purpose, it's overpriced because it's poorly thought out and has more technology than is needed for the task, the recall is a symptom of that poor thinking. I'm happy because I predicted this thing would come to a bankrupt end when it was first unveiled and it just took one more giant leap to proving me right.

It's not a matter of people being too stupid to pay attention to an indicator light (if such a light even exists). It's a matter of the thing being so poorly thought out that nobody asked the vital question "what happens when the batteries run dry", a device that absolutely positively has to have electricity to be able to move needs to have some thinking put into making it stop gracefully and safely when the batteries die. Given this things profile and weight if you're not someplace you can stop for a few hours to recharge this beast you've GOT TO keep going until you either get there or the batteries die, just like with a car. You don't just park your car because the low fuel light came on, you try to figure out where the nearest source of fuel is and do your best to get there. But at least with a car you can coast to a graceful stop. Segway didn't think it through, and now they're recalling it.

I believe it was a miserable attempt, too many wizbang engineers with their heads in the clouds, not enough realists asking tough questions. Doesn't matter if the money came from taxpayers or investors, they got bilked.