Payless Pulls Kids' Light-Up Shoes Suspected of Sparking SUV Fire

A Texas couple says their 2-year-old son's Neverland Pirates shoes are to blame for a fire inside their SUV

Payless ShoeSource said Tuesday it's pulling all of its boys' Jake Lighted Runner light-up shoes from store shelves while authorities investigate a report that the shoes sparked a fire inside a Texas family's SUV.

Attila and Jovan Virag of Katy, Texas, told NBC affiliate station KPRC of Houston that their 2-year-old son left his Jake and the Neverland Pirates shoes in the SUV Friday. 

They found the backseat charred on Saturday morning. 

"I saw the shoe on the ground with the wires sticking up and it was a lightbulb, I knew immediately that's what it was," Jovan Virag told KPRC. 

The family believes the shoes' penny-sized lithium battery sparked the fire. The cause is still under investigation, Captain Dean Hensley with the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office told NBC News on Wednesday. 

Payless said in a statement: "Out of an abundance of caution we have removed the Boys' Jake Lighted Runner from our shelves until we can thoroughly investigate a customer claim regarding that shoe. First and foremost, safety is always a top priority at Payless and we take the claim made by the customer seriously. We have contacted the family, and we will work with them and local authorities to better understand the circumstances of the fire and what may have caused it."

Payless told NBC that this is not a full product recall.

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