So, we're not really sure what's going on here, but three people have been killed by mis-using a Japanese foot massager. We've only got specific details about one death, which happened when a woman removed the protective cloth cover from the machine -- called the Shape-up Roller 2 -- then strangled herself when it got caught on her collar as she tried to use it on her neck. The manufacturer, Matoba Electric, issued a warning against removing the cover or using the device other than as directed, but has not yet recalled the device, which seems to be powerful enough to massage the tension out of a T-Rex's feet. We've got a feeling there won't be a Shape-up Roller 3 anytime soon. Video of a Japanese news broadcast about the accidents after the break.
[Thanks, Mechelle]
posted Dec 17th 2008 4:06PM
That should be on engadget's gifts for enemies list
Are robots allowed to stand trial?
Can they serve jail time?
yes they can. Unplugged for life without parole...
This violates the first law of robotics: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Ok, the thing isn't an mischevious killing machine that sprang to life. We all know these women were straddling the massager.
Fellow men can you not see? Art thou blind? The uprising has begun.
Accidents at first... That's what humanity called them. We know better now. Those were the days...
has anyone heard of this great invention called a 'knife'? you can use it to cut things - like a shirt that is rapidly constricting against your neck.
...turning the damn thing off would be my first choice.
toonga!
i want to put this high, so i'm replying to the idiot. forgive me, readers.
the news video says the same thing happened to 3 people, so it's not just one stupid person committing suicide or trying for a darwin award. worst of all, the company covered up the first two deaths, which means the third death at least could have been prevented. it seems a bit less funny once you know that, doesn't it?
Well...why didn't she just get a neck massager, then?
Why didn't she pull the plug out.
Normally, if you're being strangled, you're thinking of other things than "perhaps I should unplug this automated masseuse whereupon its vice-like grip shall be loosened, permitting me to free myself from its clutches forthwith", and instead thinking more along the lines of "huh? what the OW OW OW FUCK FUCK FUCK FUGGHHHIEEEUUGGHHHHH GARRUUUUGGHHHHHH".
Haha! Stories like this crack me up. Stupid woman.
What she did wasn't all that stupid, you think it's stupid because you know now what the aftermath is.
What I find stupid is how someone can find it funny that another person died. You need to seek help, not attention.
First and foremost, if you think it's funny when a person is killed, you need to seriously rethink your sense of humor. Secondly, and not to speak ill of the dead, but what she did was rather unintelligent. There's no denying that, and it isn't the company's fault. Would we blame the blender maker if someone cut off the top of the plastic container, fired up the exposed blades, and got their shirt stuck in that?
It's not funny, and it's nobody's fault. It's called an accidental death.
@ alex
i'm sorry but how in the world can you possibly say that what she did WASN'T stupid?!
and @ who?
how can you say it's not her fault?! the machine didn't come to life and kill her, she died through her own STUPID actions. who else would be to blame? sure it was accidental but that doesn't change the fact that it was someone's fault
Yes, she's definitely to blame. How dare she attempt to massage her own neck with a massaging device. The sheer stupidity overwhelms me.
What's wrong with you guys?
@ducky
You don't think it's a bit dumb to have taken the protective cover off of a foot massager and then used on your neck?
It isn't funny, but I'm with Alex on this one. People die every day by using objects other than directed - cars, guns, electricity etc. etc. We should know better. That many don't is a sign of stupidity or at least ignorance/arrogance, which I deem to be a form of stupidity.
@Kilton
I guess it depends on how you are defining the word 'fault'. If you are using it as a synonym for the word 'mistake,' then you are correct in saying it was her fault. If, however, like me, you were using it as a synonym for 'misdeed,' which is defined as an "improper or wicked or immoral behavior," then you could say it was not her fault.
Welcome to the English language, may we take your meaning? :P
It isn't funny that she died, but it is funny how she died.
Most people wouldn't put death by foot massager as their top preference in ways to go--you laugh because, even though it is sad and tragic, it is ridiculous that someone could be killed by a foot massager.
@Kilton,
What is so stupid about using a massager on your neck? Would you have known that that's how she died if it wasn't part of the article? Would you really have foreseen that her collar would get stuck and killed her? Then you must know other "stupid" ways this could be used and be potentially fatal, explain the other two deaths then.
@who?
wtf are you talking about?! why do i have to use the world fault as a synonym for another word? why can't i use it to mean exactly what it means? she's at fault - period. there is no way to misconstrue that if you know what being at fault actually means. don't give me that welcome to the english language bullshit - you're looking to much into it. fault means one thing. being responsible for a mistake or error. who the fuck else is responsible for this mistake? you tell me
and @alex
you seem to really want to ignore the fact that this was labeled as and meant to be used as a FOOT massager not a fucking neck massager. if you really don't think it was stupid of her to take the protective cover off, use it on her neck, and get her shirt caught up in it then i think you should go out and buy one and give yourself a good neck massage. you're right i wouldn't have known that's how she died if it wasn't explained in the article but i could have made a safe bet that she didn't die while massaging her damn feet
Wait a minute, guys. I must not have received the memo - when did bizarre accidental death stop being funny?
@Kilton
To answer your last question (not to embarrass you) here's a direct quote from my post: "...it's nobody's fault. It's called an accidental death."
Now for your other (well phrased and reasoned) questions. Words can, and often do, mean more than one thing. The word fault can mean many things, from an imperfection or defect to a mistake or a misdeed.
Like you said, you meant it to mean she was responsible for an unintentional mistake. Like I said, I meant it to mean she wasn't responsible for a purposeful misdeed. Both of these are perfectly reasonable ways to define the word 'fault'.
I don't see where the problem is, or what I said that resulted in the slew of swearwords directed at me, but there you have it, I hope this helps!
From the back of the room you hear Nelson....
"ha ha!"
Sorry lady. Follow instructions.
@kilton: You know, a lot of people use "shoulder and neck massagers" to massage something else.
@Chef
Congrats- you are the first Engadget commenter to make me actually wince while reading. I'm still doing it...
@chef
...like what? their biceps after a long day of working out?
did they do it intentionally? as japanese suicide rate is pretty high.
Asian joke gone horribly wrong........Or did it?
When it said mis-using and women dieing, I thought of something else.
I then realized it said neck.
Its sad..... :(
I was equally dissapointed
I was going to crack a joke about machines and World domination...but really... it was not the massaging machine falt...
..... really the machines should dominate the World.
Oh Darwin, you never cease to amaze me.
Looks like Skynet has become self-aware in time for the holidays.
I see a future nomination for the Darwin Awards! Natural selection via man-made device. I feel bad that people died, but on the other hand, that's what you get for mis-using a device. Right up there with looking down the barrel of a gun to see if it is loaded.
I'm pretty sure there's a difference between playing with a gun and a massage machine...
Appearantly not in this case.
Such a shame that a witty comment got down-voted when we've got some high and mighty sorts voting themselves up. Do we have people visiting this article who have no sense of humour?
Guess it's not too late for the 2008 Darwin Award nominations...
What I don't get is how fast it was going to pull her collar and choke her to death. It had to be pretty damn fast or she had to be kinda weak not to be able to pull the collar away or rip it apart or something. Sounds like more people need to be using protective sleeves.
it seems like it could be like a decapitator...
Well from the video, this thing is huge - it's designed to massage both feet at the same time - and it looks like it's rotating pretty damn fast. Why you'd want to put it on your neck with the cloth off is beyond me but I can see how it would be able to choke you very quickly.
Sounds like darwanism at its finest. I say keep selling the thing...
I need to get one of these for my ex for Christmas
I dont know taking off the cloth and using it like a neck massager shes kind of asking for it.......
Im a sick puppy and giggled a bit....... But mostly because I can imagine what the other two deaths were from........
Why the heck would she use a foot massager at her NECK!
That's almost as stupid as putting a hat on my arse.
They shouldn't have to recall a product because people decide that they want to use the machine in another fashion. That's like suing Craftsman because you decided to use hedgeclippers to trim your eyebrows and ended up cutting off an ear.
Hmm.. I'm not saying it's safe, but if you were trimming your eyebrows, seems unlikely you lop off an ear. Unless you were distracted and turned your head suddenly.
Thanks, I'll think twice about trimming my pubes in future ^_^
Well, maybe the designers shouldn't have made the protective cover to easy to remove. The death sounds 'stupid', but come on, the woman didn't want to die. It's not like she went out of her way to modify the machine and opened it up or anything. She just took off the cover and used the machine on her neck. From the sounds of it, I bet you guys do more ridiculous things than this woman did.
Okay, if it killed one person I could see it being an accidental death "who?" but it killed three seperate people, probably by their hair or other body parts getting entangled in the roller. Three deaths is clearly a design problem, and the fault of the manufacturer.
Japan isn't like the "nothing is ever my fault ever" USA.
If this happened in the USA about 3 million lawsuits would have been filed already.
Toro was sued by a drunk guy that was maimed by a lawnmower when he lifted it up to get a branch unstuck. See Toro should have known that the lawnmower could cut an arm off and tried to prevent it. The guy won the case and lots of money.
Being stupid in the USA is better than playing the lottery. Just get hurt doing something stupid and sue away.
Brookstone sold this from theraspa and it came with a grey cover instead of red, adjustable program buttons and width adjustments down one side.. Good thing to know not to use this on my neck..
Dong, where is my auto-massager?
/that's all I got
//loved the video
Bah, I'll keep massaging my neck with my electric chainsaw: if you just wrap a strong cloth around its sword you're gonna be OK (that's what my wife and my young handsome gardner told me)
Warning: Do not taunt happy fun shape up roller 2
Warning: Do not strip happy fun shape up roller 2
When will they ever learn?
Happy Fun Ball is not amused. Prepare to die.
I think the programming was flawed, Judgment Day hasn't started yet
The Darwin Awards would call this a 'feature.'
This is not the manufacturers fault, but still, shame on them for designing an apparently innocuous device that can kill a person.
Touche Darwin, touche!
For half a second I thought "she tried to use it one her neck" was "she tried to use it on her rack".....
I really did lol.
Could population control get any more entertaining? Honestly, if this happened to one of my family members, or close friends, I'm pretty sure I would have to debase my moral code and break out my best Hank Hill witicism, "Ugh, that boy/girl ain't right". The entire shituation is egregious to be honest. I've seen alot of sympathetic and humorous comparisons to the possible detriment of using an item outside of it's original intent, kinda like using a plugged in toaster to warm your bathwater....Sure it works, but it's pretty fucking stupid. :) I'll cite *iridium* with his example of being stupid in america will make you rich....Sad, but true. Like the lady who sued McDonalds and won 3 million because the coffee cup didn't say "Warning: You just ordered hot fucking coffee, don't take the lid off and try to drive", or whatever it was supposed to say. I think the judicial system kinda has a skewed stance on holding people accountable for their own actions. I actually think personal injury is a pretty good way to guage the lack of thought process one put into the deed before carrying it out. I wonder if this lady got smacked in the mouth by all 6 hands of vishnu? ....Damnit, sitting here typing this put a cramp in my neck, where's the kitchenaid blender at......
Now THIS has to be fodder for the likes of UnNews.
@ Nick J.
Of course this is funny. This is Darwin's theory at work. If people can't follow or understand warning labels, then they are obviously missed some brain cells.
Besides, when you work at a morgue, what else am I suppose to laugh at?
I have something similar. It doesn't really feel like a massage; the thing tickles your feet. Such a waste of money...
Klatu, berrata, necktu!
Klatu, berrata, necktu!
The designer's at fault for not making the covering hard to take off? Fuck that. They even said there's a warning stating to not take the cover off, and to not use it for other than its intended purpose: to massage feet. I don't know about you, but my feet aren't close to my neck. She died, it's sad, wah, but I have to agree that the product shouldn't be taken off the shelves. Hell, stupid fuckin' kids and adults burn the shit out of themselves by misusing lighter fluid and barbecue lighters, but we still have those in abundance.
"but we still have those in abundance."
Not to mention guns :\
Does it take a genius to think that maybe the cover should be an integral part of the design? i.e., it should be impossible to remove, if the consequences are so dangerous.
Foot massager ... stinky feet. I'd want a cover that I can take off and, I don't know, wash? Seems pretty logical to me. I get your point, though, even if I think it's perfectly logical to sell a foot massager with a removal cover.
Two pages and no Pulp Fiction quotes???? guys that's a shame. Back there in P.F., a foot massage led to a guy falling down many storeys through the window.
Foot massage is a dangerous thing, huh!
A little less sarcasm, tho, why cant people put it in the law somewhere, *using things outside of their original intended use is totally at user's peril!* It could save tons of paperspent writing it in each and every manual.
I just think this is the Modern day form of Natural Selection. Modern day products killing off the DUMB people. It's not working good enough though as there just seems to be a abundance of Idiots out there these days.
It's bad engineering the device could have had a clutch that would limit the force or a shut off. It's products like these that keep people like Ralph Nader employed.
Sorry but I can't cut them any slack here something like a foot messager should not be capable of killing someone.
BTW it was a simple cloth cover she removed the machine could become dangerous if said cover were to simply become worn out.
So this cannot be compared to misusing a blender this is one company that deserves whatever laws suits come it's way.