Just in time for Halloween, Walletpop's Consumer Ally, Mitch Lipka, discovered that these adorable mini flashlights for children catch fire. Since Lipka's report, Target pulled them from the shelves, but take a good look at this product and make sure you haven't already stockpiled them for Halloween. From Walletpop's Consumer Ally:
It came from Target -- three for $1 in a package marketing them for Halloween. I dropped in a new Energizer battery, screwed on the top and the flashlight got warm right away. I shut off the flashlight and placed it on the kitchen table. A few minutes later a sizzling sound could be heard that we couldn't identify. The burning smell quickly led us to the flashlight, which was now smoking and melting from the heat. I grabbed an oven mitt, grabbed the flashlight and went out on the balcony and shoved it into a pot of dirt.
I'd have to say that after writing about dangerous products for more than a decade -- many cheap Chinese imports like this -- I hadn't had one go up on me. So I purchased another package of the flashlights and dropped batteries into two of them. One melted. The other was OK. Two out of three flashlights overheating isn't a good ratio in my unscientific test.
So I contacted the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Target and the importer, Devrian Global Industries.
Target's response was swift and decisive. The flashlights are being pulled from the shelves at Target and anyone with them can get their money back. Target operates 1,684 stores in 48 states.
To read more from Walletpop's Consumer Ally go to Walletpop.com
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