Blowing up hoverboards for your safety! Contact 6 goes behind the scenes at Underwriters Laboratories

MILWAUKEE/NORTHBROOK, Illinois — They were the must-have items around the holidays. Now, hoverboards are hard to find. The government asked retailers to take them off shelves considering them too dangerous. But, there's one laboratory that's breaking and blowing up hoverboards to keep you safe and get them back on the market.

From kites to drones, if it's fun and flies you'll find it at Gift of Wings, but there's one item flying off shelves that's grounded: Hoverboards.

"People love these boards," said owner Scott Fisher.

Well, hoverboards were flying off shelves at Fisher's ship.

"There shouldn't be anybody selling them right now," Fisher said.

Hoverboard notice from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Fisher along with other retailers, pulled the boards after a notice from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

"The Consumer Product Safety Commission has come out with a notice saying that these boards should be completely UL certified," Fisher explained.

The hot holiday item was so hot it led to scary situations at homes across the United States. In one case, a suburban Chicago home was left charred after a hoverboard exploded, sparking a fire.

Remnants from hoverboard that exploded.

"That's what scares everyone, including us," said John Drengenberg, the Consumer Safety Director at Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

Drengenberg has seen it all. It's literally UL's job to make products break, catch fire and even explode all in the name safety.

"20,000 different types of products ranging from the toaster in your kitchen to life jackets on boats to bulletproof glass," Drengenberg said.

The list of products tested now includes hoverboards.

When the boards started being sold, they weren't being tested by UL.

"Hoverboards came on the market rather quickly and they kinda bypassed the safety certification process," Drengenberg said.

John Drengenberg, Consumer Safety Director at Underwriters Laboratories

Now, manufacturers are enlisting UL's help to get their boards back in stores.

The experts at UL developed a new set of safety standards specifically for hoverboards. The standards are designed to make sure all the parts from the batteries to the motors work safely together.

FOX6's Contact 6 got a behind the scenes look at some of the standards testing.

The first test was called the blunt nail.

The blunt nail shows what can happen if one battery inside a hoverboard short circuits.

The blunt nail test shows what happens if just one battery in a hoverboard short circuits. It can lead to an explosion and fire. Keep in mind, hoverboards can have up to 24 batteries inside.

"Just a problem with one of those cells could involve all the others," Drengenberg explained.

The next test was called the projectile test.

The projectile test shows what can happen if a battery overheats.

In the projectile test, engineers purposely overheat a battery to make it explode. The battery has a screen surrounding it, if any portion of the battery flies through the screen it's considered a failure.

The next test was called the drop test.

The drop test looks at what happens when an individual drops a hoverboard.

During the drop test, engineers drop a hoverboard three different times on three different faces. After being dropped, engineers examine the hoverboard.

"We look for the enclosure maybe to break to such an extent that you could reach in and touch a live part or, maybe, even something coming loose inside that could cause a short circuit," Drengenberg explained.

The tests Contact 6 saw were just a sample. The real testing can take up to three weeks for one round. To get a certification, a hoverboard must pass every test in the standard.

Holographic label that shows a product is officially certified by Underwriter's Laboratory.

Once the board passes every test, it gets a holographic certification label.

"It's a gold colored label with all these UL's in it — that's even got a certain coding that's embedded in it," Drengenberg said.

If you see a the gold holographic label, it means the hoverboard is officially certified. If the label isn't the holographic gold one, it's fake.

Fisher, from Gift of Wings, knows the importance of the label and all those tests. He even has an explanation of the standards and the testing inside the shop for his customers. So he's going to keep his boards powered down until they get that label proving they're certified.

Right now, no hoverboards have official certification from UL.

If you have a hoverboard at home, UL recommends to charge them properly and don't overcharge the batteries. In addition, UL says do not leave it or charge it under your bed or any other place where it could be near flammable materials.