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Kmart has issued an urgent recall of a popular Christmas gift after reports components of the children's toy could overheat, melt and even catch fire while charging.
- Father says the USB cable "caught fire" while charging
- Kmart urges anyone with the product to contact customer service
- Kmart says those who bought the toy can get a refund
The retail giant pulled the remote-controlled quad bike toy from the shelves just after Boxing Day, pending an investigation by its quality team.
The company announced it was officially recalling the 2.4Ghz ATV Madness toy after, "a small number of samples had a defect present".
Several Australians took to social media after Christmas, describing how the toy became dangerous when the USB charging cable was plugged in.
Cory Freeman said the cable for his eight-year-old son's toy caught fire on Christmas Day.
"I put the kids to bed and I thought I'd charge his toy for him for the morning, so he can play with it again," he said.
"My partner had gone outside and gone back in and said, 'I smell something'.
"I looked into the corner, at the power point where the charger was plugged in, and the USB cable was on fire.
"If I'd kept walking around the house a couple more minutes it probably would have really caught on and burnt the wall and burnt the house up."
Mr Freeman obtained a refund from Kmart.
In a statement, a Kmart spokeswoman said the store, "takes the quality and safety of our products very seriously, which is why we are issuing an urgent recall of the remote control 1:6 ATV Madness".
"Kmart is committed to product and customer safety and we encourage customers to cease using this product immediately and return to any Kmart store for a full refund," the spokeswoman said.
Anyone who has purchased the product has been urged to contact Kmart Customer Service on 1800 124 125.
Topics: consumer-protection, business-economics-and-finance, family-and-children, canberra-2600, act, australia