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Comment by ibero | Hacker News Reader

In that very thread the top comment thread is specifically about the treadmills lacking a "guard or plastic covering on the bottom that stops the tread from pulling something underneath."

that too me is something that would fall under a "factory fix."

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Which was a silly suggestion, and if you look at their competitors (nordic track being the primary) - they have no such plastic guard. Their fix is a pin, you can return the treadmill if you don't like that option.

The only thing that plastic guard will do is create a spot for clothing and fingers to get caught.

Yes, a plastic guard creates opportunities for catching fingers and clothing, but (unsurprisingly) people think this is preferable to their child's head getting caught in the treadmill[1]. A child was killed by one of these things.

It is absolutely a massive design flaw that this treadmill lacks a protective guard and/or an automatic cutoff that triggers when it sees an unexpected level of resistance. You know, like if a child's head gets caught in it.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onXNnlCYJ4Y

Which, again, happens with all treadmills, because they are dangerous. Which is why there is a security key and a giant warning to keep small children and pets away from it.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4350594/Girl-3-seri...

Most treadmills are advertised as gym equipment rather than home equipment.

Most gym areas have restrictions such as not allowing kids under a specific age (I can't remember the exact number, I think it was 14). Even gyms in residential buildings have this restriction.

Now, many treadmills don't have enough space under them to enable the kind of stuff that Peloton treadmills do to pets and kids ("sucking" them under the treadmill and killing them).

It doesn't happen with all treadmills, it happens on treadmills without a guard. You pointing to other flawed designs doesn't make Peloton's design less flawed.

I'd challenge you to find me 10 treadmills that have the guard you speak of. I have personally looked at probably 2 dozen treadmills in my life while shopping. Run on hundreds in gyms across the globe. I can't think of a single treadmill I've ever come across with a plastic guard across the bottom. I have no doubt a few exist but I would be absolutely shocked to find out they exist in a meaningful enough number to be anything but a rounding error.

I'd challenge you to do the opposite, because my experience is apparently the antithesis of yours. I have run on treadmills in gyms all over the world as well and I can't remember using a single one that didn't have better protection from sucking small things into it than the Peloton. Every treadmill I've used (as far as I can recall) either had a much more enclosed back or a (usually metal) bar to prevent exactly the situation that occurred in the video I posted.

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