The Netherlands opens criminal investigation into cargo bike builder Babboe

The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has started a criminal investigation into cargo bike manufacturer Babboe. The regulator has indications that the company has misled inspectors.

Babboe came under fire last month after research by RTL Nieuws showed that the manufacturer’s cargo bikes suffer from safety defects. Hundreds of bicycle frames are said to have broken through. Moreover, Babboe is said to have been aware of these problems, but did not report anything and did not intervene.

The sale of Babboe bicycles was subsequently banned – also in our country – in order to first address the problems. The company also halted sales in our country and advises customers not to use the bicycles for the time being. In the Netherlands, Babboe has now been forced to issue a recall for certain models. This would also be expanded to other countries, the company said last month.

Further research by RTL now shows that the company has played an even more active role in withholding information. According to the Dutch channel, Babboe employees misled the NVWA inspectors when they carried out inspections. For example, broken frames would have been hidden in vans to keep them out of sight. The broadcaster provides photos and sound recordings to substantiate those claims.

The regulator has now started a criminal investigation into the facts, the NVWA confirmed to RTL. In a response, NVWA spokesperson Bjorn Elsebrock calls the messages ‘really shocking and downright shocking’. ‘If things are withheld, we cannot do our work. That is undermining and bad.’

Babboe is owned by bicycle company Accell, which also has the Sparta and Batavus brands in its portfolio. In 2022, Accell was taken private for 1.56 billion euros by the American investment giant KKR and the Dutch Teslin.

The parent company itself states that it wants to get to the bottom of the matter in this case. “Quality and safety are always number 1,” Accell spokesperson Uneke Dekkers told RTL. ‘We think it is important that signals from employees and customers are taken seriously and lead to the right actions. That should have been done more alertly and better in the past.’

According to the bicycle manufacturer, ‘the safety investigation into all Babboe models is in the final phase’. Accell expects to be able to provide clarity about this to our customers around Easter.