Children’s ‘Yoto Mini’ speaker recalled for burn and fire hazards

By CNN Newsource

Published April 11, 2024 2:22 pm

By John Towfighi, CNN

(CNN) — A children’s mini speaker is being recalled for potential burn and fire hazards.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced April 11 that the Yoto Mini speaker for children is being voluntarily recalled because of a lithium-ion battery that can overheat and catch fire, posing burn and fire risks.

Parents are advised to remove the Yoto Mini from their children’s reach immediately, but recalled units do not need to be discarded.

Those who own the speaker should contact Yoto to receive a free Yoto Mini Smart Cable, which can charge the speaker battery to a safe level, Yoto said in a statement.

The speaker was sold with a charging cable, but no adaptor or charger. Consumers should cut the charging cable through the middle and upload a photo to the Yoto website with their email and Yoto Mini serial number, located on the speaker’s base. Once uploaded, consumers will be eligible for the free smart cable.

“Anyone who has a Yoto Mini can now register to receive one Yoto Mini Smart Cable per device through our dedicated website. The Yoto Mini Smart Cable will keep the battery charge within safe limits and prevent it potentially overheating by stopping charging when it reaches a certain point,” the company said in a statement.

Yoto also said it implemented an automatic software update across all Yoto Mini speakers to “improve battery management,” according to a company statement.

“We apologize for the inconvenience and concern this issue may cause our customers and would like to reassure them the safety of our products is our absolute priority,” the company said in a statement.

The Yoto Mini is a Bluetooth speaker intended for children ages 3 to 12 and can be used to play audiobooks, music, radio and podcasts.

The speaker is used with physical Yoto cards that slide into the speaker device and correspond to different audio, including audiobooks and songs.

No injuries have been reported. Yoto received seven reports — six from US consumers and one from a UK consumer — about the speaker overheating or melting, according to the CPSC.

About 251,165 speakers are subject to the recall in the United States and about 18,932 are subject to the recall in Canada.

The speaker is sold online at us.yotoplay.com, maisonette.com and major retailers like Amazon.com and Target.com. The speaker was sold in toy and gift stores nationwide from November 2021 to April 2024.

The recalled units have the SKU PRPLXX00860 on the base of the product.