Hot cars can cause squishy toys like NeeDohs to become burn risks

Doctors are renewing a push to warn parents about burn risks from squishy toys like NeeDohs, especially during summer months when a hot car can cause similar danger to the social media trend of microwaving the toys.

These fidget toys are filled with a jelly-like substance. They're viral and highly sought after by kids and adult collectors alike.

"I have over 40 and my favorite is the cheese," said 8-year-old Eli.

"I think it's just the adrenaline of trying to find squishy that everyone wants and sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we don't," said his mom Jennifer Vee.

Vee hunts for the toys at stores like Snackd in the Chicago Ridge Mall and posts her finds to social media.

But she, like other parents and doctors, is concerned by an ongoing social media trend in which kids microwave the toys to make them more pliable. That can make them unstable, and cause them to explode, which in turn can cause burns.

That's what happened to a 9-year-old named Caleb in Plainfield, who suffered second-degree burns on his face and hands.

But people have also been burned by these squishy toys by leaving them in their cars. A car in the summer heat can act a lot like an oven.

"We have not seen that personally, but I can only imagine with how hot it gets in some of the southern states that that could definitely be a potential hazard," said Kelly McElligott, burn outreach coordinator for Loyola Medicine Burn Center, where Caleb was treated.

A warning on the NeeDoh box advises against heating, freezing or microwaving the toy.

"When parents are buying any sort of toys, ensure that they're reading the labels thoroughly and if there's any warnings on them, that they're passing those warnings on to their children," McElligott said.

"He knows the dangers that come with that," Vee said of her son. "I didn't even know that was a thing, but for kids to even get that idea it's just mind-blowing."

The manufacturer of NeeDoh is working with social media companies to remove videos of the viral and dangerous microwave trend.