‘Dangerous’ new TikTok trend involving $29 toy from Kmart sees retail giant pull product from shelves
- Aussie teens set viral trend by flying on ramps using $29 Kmart toy carts
- Road Safety Expert Comments Downhill Trolley is Too Dangerous
- Kmart appears to have withdrawn the product from sale, it is no longer available
A major Australian retailer appears to have given in to safety fears after claiming a cheap toy was being used in a ‘dangerous’ trend and withdrew it from sale.
A trend of driving Kmart’s Anko wiggle carts on parking ramps exploded on TikTok in early February with several clips earning millions of views.
Some even posted videos of “mobile cart encounters”, while other inventive teens posted videos showing how to put bright lights under carts – which, in theory, would make them safer.
But an online search for the product on Saturday returned a message that “this product is no longer available.”
A major Australian retailer appears to have given in to safety fears after claiming that a cheap Anko ‘wiggle cart’ toy was being used in a ‘dangerous’ trend and withdrew it from sale
Teenagers flocked to Kmart to buy the cheap toy, then raced them through parking lots, angering safety experts
Kmart employees confirmed they were inundated with teenagers buying the flimsy toy carts, which cost $29.
‘So that’s why the Kmart where I work gets so many calls for the mobile cart! Oh my god,’ Chloe said on one of the video messages.
While the clips appear to show teenagers enjoying themselves in a fairly innocent way, a road safety expert has analyzed their antics.
Bored Aussie teens arranged rowdy cart meet
A Kmart employee said the store she worked at was overwhelmed with inquiries about shopping carts (pictured) Like Saturday, they were not available on Kmart’s online catalog
Russell White of the Australian Road Safety Foundation said 7News descending on the trolleys was dangerous and could injure people.
He noted that he was “surprised” that Kmart was selling them.
“So what should be used in a controlled environment and it’s clearly designed for people to use their own body weight to move the thing, once you put it on a downward slope it’s dangerous” , did he declare.
“A descent in itself is a bit of a question mark because once you go down a slope, you can’t control the device. You’re going to hurt yourself very quickly.
Mr White also argued that truck or car drivers might not see the trolley drivers because they are so low to the ground and do not realize if they hit one.
But there was arguably another reason why the trend was dumb, as TikTok user “None” pointed out, using one to recreate the trend could be a waste of money.
‘[They have a] 50kg limit and they break easily if someone used it for about 20 mins and it broke into four pieces.
Daily Mail Australia has tapped Kmart for comment.
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