Electric scooter startup Lime last week recalled scooters that broke in half and blamed a manufacturer—but now that manufacturer is fighting back, saying it’s not to blame for Lime’s faulty scooters.
The Chinese manufacturer, Okai, rejected Lime’s claims that scooters from its factory were the ones that easily broke apart when customers used them.
“We feel it necessary to make cautions to the public on the credibility of such statements made by Lime,” Okai said in a statement, according to CNN Business. “Obviously, Lime has other suppliers whose scooters broke.”
Lime recalled all the scooters made by Okai in its fleet worldwide. The manufacturer has sold 32,000 scooters to Lime, according to CNN Business.
“We are actively looking into reports that scooters manufactured by Okai may break and are working cooperatively with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the relevant agencies internationally to get to the bottom of this,” Lime told Coins2Day last week. “Safety is Lime’s highest priority and as a precaution we are immediately decommissioning all Okai scooters in the global fleet. The vast majority of Lime’s fleet is manufactured by other companies and decommissioned Okai scooters are being replaced with newer, more advanced scooters considered best in class for safety.”
Lime didn’t immediately respond to request for comment from Coins2Day about Okai’s comments.
Along with questioning Lime’s placement of blame for its recalled scooters, Okai is pushing the company to take responsibility for the deterioration of heavily used scooters in its fleet.
“It is the operator’s responsibility to ensure proper and prompt management and maintenance of the scooters it puts into the co-sharing market,” Okai told CNN Business.
Lime’s scooter recall was its second in recent months, following a recall over Segway Ninebot scooters whose batteries caught fire.