Squishy Toy Burn Injury Lawsuit Lawyers

Popular Squishy Toys May Burst After Exposure to Heat, Creating Serious Burn and Injury Risks for Children and Families

What Parker Waichman LLP Found

• The CPSC warns that squishy toys can become dangerously hot when exposed to direct sunlight, hot vehicles, heaters, or other high-temperature conditions.
• Heated toys can rupture and release hot filling material that may stick to the skin and continue causing thermal injury.
• Social media demonstrations involving intentionally heating squishy toys should not be attempted or imitated.
• A damaged toy may expose children to additional hazards from internal materials, while counterfeit or noncompliant toys can create further safety concerns.
• Families considering a lawsuit should preserve the toy, packaging, purchase information, photographs, medical records, and online product listing whenever possible.

Squishy toys have become enormously popular with children because of their soft texture, bright colors, unusual shapes, and satisfying feel. They can be found in bedrooms, backpacks, playrooms, family vehicles, and toy collections across the United States. Their seemingly harmless appearance, however, can conceal a potential danger when certain squishy toys are exposed to high temperatures.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has warned consumers that squishy toys can become dangerously hot when they are left in direct sunlight, inside a hot vehicle, near a heater, or in another high-temperature environment. According to the safety warning, heated squishy toys may burst and release hot filling material capable of causing severe burns. A particularly troubling aspect of the hazard is that the filling can be sticky. When heated material sticks to a person’s skin, it can continue transferring heat instead of immediately falling away, potentially increasing the severity of the burn.

The warning is particularly important for parents because children may not understand that a toy sitting on a dashboard, windowsill, or vehicle seat can become dangerously hot. Children may instinctively grab, squeeze, or hug the toy without realizing that heat has changed the condition of the toy or its contents.

There is another developing concern. Social media videos have reportedly encouraged people to deliberately heat squishy toys to watch them expand, deform, or burst. The CPSC warns that these demonstrations are dangerous and should not be attempted or copied.

A burn caused by a children’s product can result in much more than temporary pain. Serious burns may require emergency treatment, hospitalization, wound care, surgery, skin grafting, rehabilitation, and treatment for permanent scarring or disfigurement. When an injury may have resulted from an unsafe product, families should also consider whether they have grounds for a product liability lawsuit.

Why Squishy Toys Can Become Dangerous When They Are Heated

The hazard associated with heated squishy toys involves more than the exterior of the toy simply becoming warm. Many squishy products contain a flexible outer membrane surrounding gel, liquid, foam, beads, or another filling material. Heat can affect both the outer shell and the substance contained inside it.

A toy left inside a closed vehicle can be exposed to substantial heat. Direct sunlight through a window can also heat an object over an extended period. Similar conditions can occur when a toy is placed near a space heater, radiator, heating vent, stove, fireplace, or other heat source.

As temperature increases, the physical properties of the toy can change. The outer material may weaken, stretch, tear, or rupture. The contents may also become extremely hot. If pressure develops inside the toy or the exterior fails while someone is squeezing it, hot filling material can suddenly escape.

That creates a particularly dangerous sequence of events. A child may pick up a heated toy without realizing anything is wrong. When the child squeezes it, the weakened exterior can rupture. Heated material may then contact the child’s hands, arms, face, legs, or body.

Sticky filling compounds can make the situation considerably worse. Unlike hot water that may quickly run off the body, a viscous substance can adhere to the skin and continue transferring thermal energy. Removing the substance can also take additional time, allowing the burn to deepen.

Children may be particularly vulnerable because their skin is thinner and more susceptible to thermal injury than adult skin. A product that becomes dangerously hot therefore presents an especially serious concern when it is designed, marketed, or reasonably expected to be handled by children.

Leaving Squishy Toys Inside Cars May Create an Unexpected Hazard

The family vehicle is one of the places where this problem can easily develop. Parents frequently find toys scattered across back seats, floorboards, cupholders, and dashboards. A squishy toy may remain inside the vehicle for days or weeks without anyone giving it much thought.

When sunlight enters a closed vehicle, temperatures inside can rise dramatically. A toy placed on a dashboard or seat exposed to direct sunlight may absorb substantial heat.

The danger may not become apparent until someone gets back into the vehicle and picks up the toy. The toy could still look completely normal from the outside. A child may squeeze it before a parent realizes how hot it has become.

Parents and caregivers should therefore avoid treating vehicles as storage areas for squishy toys. Products should also be kept away from sunny windows and household heating equipment.

The CPSC’s warning is significant because heat exposure is foreseeable. Children’s toys are routinely transported in vehicles and left near windows. If a product becomes dangerous under conditions that reasonably occur during ordinary ownership, questions can arise concerning the adequacy of its design, testing, instructions, and warnings.

Social Media Heating Videos Can Put Children and Teenagers at Risk

The CPSC has also raised concerns about online videos in which squishy toys are intentionally heated so viewers can observe what happens to them.

These demonstrations can encourage children and teenagers to reproduce what they see online. A video showing a toy expanding or bursting may look like an entertaining experiment without showing the potential consequences of hot filling material contacting someone’s skin.

Heating a toy in a microwave, oven, near an open flame, with a hair dryer, or through another artificial heat source could create unpredictable results. The exterior could rupture suddenly. Internal substances could become extremely hot. Heated contents could splatter onto the face, hands, eyes, or other areas of the body.

Children should never heat squishy toys to make them grow, change shape, explode, or burst.

Parents may also want to explain why these videos are dangerous rather than simply telling children not to imitate them. A child who understands that the contents can become hot enough to cause a serious burn may be less likely to treat the activity as an entertaining experiment.

A Ruptured Squishy Toy May Create Hazards Beyond Burns

Burn injuries are not the only concern associated with damaged or overheated squishy toys. Once the outer covering ruptures, children can potentially come into contact with the internal filling.

The composition of that filling can vary considerably between products. Depending on the toy, exposed contents could potentially present ingestion, inhalation, choking, or chemical exposure concerns.

Small components and certain types of filling material can create particular risks for young children who naturally put objects in their mouths. Damaged toys should therefore be removed from children’s access immediately.

Counterfeit and noncompliant products present additional concerns because consumers may have little reliable information about what materials were used, whether the toy underwent appropriate testing, or whether it complied with applicable federal requirements.

The CPSC has reported working with U.S. Customs and Border Protection to stop hundreds of thousands of violative squishy toys from entering the United States. That enforcement activity demonstrates why parents should not assume that every inexpensive toy available online necessarily complies with U.S. safety requirements.

Counterfeit Squishy Toys Can Make Identifying Responsible Companies More Difficult

The enormous online marketplace for inexpensive children’s products has created significant consumer safety challenges. A toy can look nearly identical to a recognized product while being manufactured by an unrelated company using different materials and quality controls.

Counterfeit products may copy packaging, characters, logos, colors, and product designs. Consumers may believe they are purchasing one product when they are actually receiving another.

When someone is seriously injured, determining exactly where the product came from becomes an important part of the legal investigation. Attorneys may examine order confirmations, seller information, packaging, shipping labels, payment records, product listings, photographs, warnings, instruction sheets, and communications with the retailer.

Families should therefore avoid immediately throwing away a toy involved in an injury. Although an unsafe product should be kept away from children, the actual toy can become important evidence in a product liability case.

The product’s packaging and purchase records should also be preserved whenever possible.

What Types of Burns Can a Hot Squishy Toy Cause?

Thermal burns are generally classified according to the depth and severity of tissue damage. A minor burn may affect only the outer layers of skin, while a severe burn can damage deeper tissue and require extensive medical intervention.

Hot, sticky material creates a particular concern because prolonged contact can allow thermal energy to continue damaging tissue. Depending on the temperature, location, amount of material, and duration of exposure, an injured person could suffer significant burns.

Severe burn injuries may lead to emergency room treatment, hospitalization, infection, nerve damage, permanent discoloration, scarring, restricted movement, reconstructive procedures, or skin grafting.

Burns involving the face, eyes, hands, feet, joints, or large areas of the body can be especially consequential. Children who sustain permanent scars may face physical and emotional effects extending well beyond the initial injury.

Medical records documenting the injury from its earliest stages can become important evidence if a product liability claim is later pursued.

What Should You Do After a Squishy Toy Burn?

Immediate attention to a burn can be important. According to the safety information accompanying the CPSC warning, consumers should not place ice directly on a burn. Instead, the affected area should be placed under cool running water for at least 20 minutes. Remaining material can then be carefully removed with soap.

Once the area is clean and dry, it can be protected with a clean bandage. Serious burns, burns involving children, and wounds showing signs of infection warrant medical evaluation.

Emergency medical treatment should not be delayed to collect evidence. The injured person’s health comes first.

Once immediate medical needs have been addressed, however, families should consider preserving evidence connected to the incident. Keep the toy, packaging, purchase receipt, online order history, photographs, instructions, warning labels, and any communications concerning the product.

Photographs of the injury can also help document how the burn developed over time. Burns can change significantly during healing, so photographs taken throughout treatment may provide important evidence concerning severity and scarring.

When Can a Squishy Toy Burn Lead to a Product Liability Lawsuit?

A burn does not automatically establish that a manufacturer or seller is legally responsible. A product liability investigation examines why the injury occurred and whether a defect, inadequate warning, or other legally actionable condition contributed to it.

Depending on the applicable state law and circumstances, potential claims could involve defective design, manufacturing defects, inadequate warnings, negligence, breach of warranty, or other product liability theories.

A design defect claim may examine whether the product’s design created an unreasonable risk of rupture, overheating, or dangerous exposure to heated filling material.

A manufacturing defect claim may arise when a particular toy deviates from its intended design. For example, inadequate seams, improper materials, inconsistent wall thickness, contamination, or another manufacturing problem could potentially cause a toy to fail.

A failure-to-warn claim may examine whether consumers received adequate information about foreseeable dangers. If a toy can become hazardous after being left in sunlight or a vehicle, investigators may evaluate what warnings appeared on the packaging and whether those warnings adequately communicated the risk.

Who Could Potentially Be Responsible for a Dangerous Squishy Toy Injury?

Identifying legally responsible parties can become complicated, particularly when children’s toys are manufactured overseas and sold through internet marketplaces.

Depending on the jurisdiction and circumstances, an investigation may consider the conduct and legal responsibility of the manufacturer, importer, distributor, wholesaler, retailer, online seller, or other entities participating in the product’s distribution.

This is one reason families should preserve purchase information. An online order history can identify a seller that may otherwise be difficult to locate months later. Listings can disappear, seller names can change, and products can be removed from online marketplaces.

An attorney handling a serious product injury case can investigate the distribution chain and determine which companies may potentially be subject to a claim.

What Compensation May Be Available in a Squishy Toy Burn Injury Lawsuit?

A serious burn can create financial and personal consequences extending far beyond the original emergency room visit. Damages available in a product liability lawsuit vary according to state law and the circumstances of the individual case.

Potential compensation may include medical expenses, hospitalization, medications, surgery, skin grafting, rehabilitation, future medical treatment, lost income, reduced earning capacity, pain and suffering, permanent scarring, disfigurement, and other legally compensable losses.

Cases involving children require particular attention to future consequences. A child may require additional procedures as the body grows. Scarring around joints can potentially affect mobility.

Facial scarring or other visible disfigurement can also have lasting psychological and social effects.

Determining the value of a serious burn case therefore requires consideration of both current injuries and reasonably anticipated future consequences.

Why Preserving the Squishy Toy Can Be Important to a Lawsuit

The damaged toy itself may be one of the most valuable pieces of evidence in a product liability case.

Attorneys may arrange for the product to be examined to determine how and why it failed. The examination may consider the exterior material, seams, thickness, internal filling, rupture location, thermal properties, manufacturing quality, and other characteristics.

If the toy is discarded, investigators may lose the opportunity to conduct that testing.

Families should place the product somewhere secure where children cannot access it and avoid altering, cutting, washing, repairing, or conducting their own experiments on it. Packaging, labels, instructions, and receipts should be preserved with it.

Online evidence can disappear as well. Screenshots of the product listing, description, seller name, safety claims, age recommendations, reviews, and photographs may therefore become useful evidence.

Squishy Toy Burn Injury Lawsuit FAQs

Can I File a Lawsuit If My Child Was Burned by a Squishy Toy?

Potentially. Whether a lawsuit can be filed depends on how the injury occurred, what caused the product to become dangerous, how the toy was designed and manufactured, what warnings accompanied it, and the product liability law applicable to the case. An attorney can investigate whether a defective design, manufacturing problem, inadequate warning, or another failure contributed to the burn. The toy itself should be preserved because physical examination and testing may help determine why it ruptured or released heated material.

Do I Need the Original Packaging or Receipt to File a Claim?

Not necessarily, although those items can make an investigation easier, other evidence may establish where the toy came from, including online order histories, credit card statements, confirmation emails, photographs, shipping records, or retailer accounts. Preserve everything still available. If the toy was purchased online, take screenshots of the listing because product pages and third-party seller accounts can disappear or change.

Who Can Be Sued If a Dangerous Squishy Toy Was Purchased Online?

The answer depends heavily on the jurisdiction, distribution chain, and facts surrounding the sale. Potentially responsible parties may include a manufacturer, importer, distributor, retailer, third-party seller, or another company involved in bringing the product to consumers. Determining responsibility becomes especially important when products were manufactured overseas or sold through changing online seller accounts.

What Damages Could Be Recovered for a Serious Burn?

Recoverable damages depend on applicable law and the extent of the injury. A claim may potentially seek compensation for emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, skin grafts, medications, rehabilitation, future treatment, lost income, pain and suffering, scarring, and disfigurement. A child’s claim may also require consideration of future medical procedures and the long-term effects of permanent scars or functional limitations.

Should I Keep the Squishy Toy After an Injury?

Yes, provided it can be stored safely away from children. Do not intentionally rupture, heat, wash, repair, or otherwise alter it. The product may need to be examined as part of a legal investigation. Preserve its packaging, labels, instructions, purchase records, photographs, and any remaining filling material when it can be done safely. Medical care should always take priority immediately following an injury.

Contact Parker Waichman LLP About a Squishy Toy Burn Injury Lawsuit

When a children’s toy causes a serious burn, families deserve answers about how the product was designed, manufactured, tested, labeled, and placed into the marketplace. A product liability investigation can help determine what went wrong and identify the companies that may bear legal responsibility.

Parker Waichman LLP is a national personal injury law firm representing individuals and families harmed by dangerous and defective consumer products. The firm’s attorneys can investigate serious squishy toy burn injuries, preserve important evidence, identify potentially responsible companies, and pursue compensation when the facts and applicable law support a claim.

If you or your child suffered a serious burn or another injury involving a squishy toy, call Parker Waichman LLP for a free consultation at 1-800-YOUR-LAWYER (1-800-968-7529). There is no charge for the initial consultation, and waiting too long can jeopardize evidence and affect legal filing deadlines. Regardless of your location or where your injury occurred, our nationwide product injury law firm is ready to assist you.