Payless is reportedly pulling its boys’ Jake Lighted Runner light-up shoes over suspicion that they caused a fire in an SUV in Texas.
CNBC reported that the shoes were worn by a toddler whose parents told a local NBC station that he left them in the SUV over the weekend. But when they opened the car, the backseat was charred.
Although a cause has yet to be determined, the parents blamed the shoes’ lithium batteries, which have been linked to other fires. Boeing has warned passenger airliners that bulk shipments of lithium-ion batteries in their cargo could cause fires, and most recently, hoverboards have been banned in a number of places for igniting.
“You don’t think about … a blinky shoe,” the toddler’s father, Attila Virag said. “You don’t think about the risks.”
Payless said in a statement to CNBC that it has removed the line of shoes from its shelves “out of an abundance of caution” as authorities investigate the cause of the fire.
“We have contacted the family, and we will work with them and local authorities to better understand the circumstances of the fire and what may have caused it,” the company told CNBC.
Coins2Day has reached out to Payless for comment, and we will update this story once we hear back.
