Fire safety: tips for selecting safe toys

 
The end of financial year sales are the perfect time to stock up on toys for gifts and celebrations, but while you’re filling up your trolley, it's important to keep some risks and safety standards top of mind. 

Unfortunately, toys overheating and catching fire has become all too common, with rechargeable batteries and faulty wiring being the usual culprits. In 2022, a ride-on toy car exploded in a New Zealand family’s garage. While the rest of their family home was spared, the garage was destroyed.  

In 2024, a NSW family was less fortunate after a similar incident. A lithium battery used to charge a remote-control car caught fire, leaving their home in ruins, with only a few sentimental items salvaged from the wreck. 

With fire and rescue services reporting an increase in fires from lithium-ion batteries, the need for heightened awareness on product safety and fire risks is growing ever more important. 

Lithium-ion batteries aren’t new. In fact, they’ve been around since the early 1990s! Available in all sorts of sizes, they’re rechargeable batteries that are light-weight, energy dense and long lasting. Because of this, they’re now found in numerous portable devices on the market, including mobile phones, laptops, e-bikes, e-scooters, toys, EVs and more recently, power tools.  

As handy as these batteries are, they’re not without risk. Because of their composition, lithium-ion batteries can be highly flammable and prone to incidents during use, transport, storage and recycling. This means that incorrect manufacturing, use, storage and disposal can lead to a fire or explosion. 

While there are mandatory standards for children's toys and for products containing button and coin batteries, there isn’t currently a mandatory safety standard for lithium-ion batteries or the products that contain them. However, you can still take the following precautions when buying toys with a lithium-ion battery.

• Buy from a reputable supplier. Be mindful that some online marketplaces with operations overseas (such as Temu) may not share the same safety standards for products.  
• Search for consumer product recalls on the ACCC website before you shop or buy second-hand, to help make sure you’re not purchasing anything that’s unsafe.
• Check if the toy has a lithium-ion battery by looking for labels such as ‘lithium ion’, ‘li-ion’, ‘li-po’ and ‘lithium-polymer’.

If you do purchase a toy with a lithium-ion battery, always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for storage and charging. Here are a few basic precautions:

• Store the toy in a cool, dry place and out of direct sunlight to reduce the chance of it overheating.
• Allow the battery to cool after use and before charging. For example, if a child has been playing with a ride-on car during the day, wait until the evening to recharge it. Just don’t forget to unplug it before bedtime.
• Keep track of how long the device has been charging for and disconnect the toy once it’s fully charged.
• Never mix and match chargers, cables or batteries. Only use the charger, wires and batteries that came with the toy. 
• Charge the toy in a well-ventilated area on a non-flammable surface, such as concrete or steel.
• If the battery is not charging correctly, don’t continue to charge or play with the toy.

All content on the NRMA Insurance Blog is intended to be general in nature and does not constitute and is not intended to be professional advice.