Giant recalled LED bike-lock keys because kids can easily get at the button batteries inside

Giant Bicycle recalled the black-and-white LED-light keys that come with its pre-keyed SureLock bike lock sets, about 3,630 of them in the United States and another 1,395 in Canada. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission listed the key recall on Oct. 8, 2026 under number 27-015. The agency says the button batteries inside the keys can be accessed easily by children.

The remedy is small, a $5 refund on the key, and the lock itself stays in service. That modest fix hides a federal compliance failure: the keys do not meet the federal rule Congress ordered for products that contain button batteries.

Nine SureLock configurations and the LED key

The CPSC notice covers nine SureLock configurations, including the Protector 1 DT, STD and LS and several Flex Key and Flex Key Coil models. Only LED keys made after March 2023 are included. Each lock set ships with the LED key plus two or four ordinary keys, depending on the model, and the serial number on the underside of the lock tells an owner whether a set falls inside the recalled ranges.

Giant Bicycle, Inc., of Newbury Park, California, is the importer, and the product was manufactured in China. Authorized Giant stores nationwide and Giant’s U.S. website sold the sets from March 2023 through August 2026 for $25 to $65. That is a sales run of more than three years, long enough for a set bought at the start to have outlasted its first owner’s bike.

Reese’s Law and the button-battery standard

The CPSC says the keys violate the mandatory standard for consumer products containing button cell or coin batteries, and that the packaging and product also lack the warnings the law requires. That standard exists because of Reese’s Law, which the agency’s business guidance describes as mandating performance, labeling and certification requirements for these batteries. Under it, a compartment holding a replaceable battery must require a tool or “at least two independent and simultaneous hand movements to open,” and must not let the battery be accessed or released during use and abuse testing.

The performance requirement is codified at 16 CFR part 1263, which incorporates the UL 4200A standard approved August 30, 2023 and took effect October 23, 2023. The same part requires a black-on-orange “WARNING” signal word and a warning icon on the packaging. A key fob that a child can pry open fails the first test, and the CPSC found these did.

Burns from a swallowed button battery

The recall notice says swallowed batteries can cause serious injury, internal chemical burns and death. The Illinois Poison Center states that burns can develop within two hours of exposure and that a battery lodged in the esophagus is a life-threatening emergency. It directs families to call 911 for choking, gagging, wheezing or trouble breathing, and to take any child with symptoms to a hospital emergency department. Children under 12 with no symptoms still need an X-ray to locate the battery.

The center lists two phone lines: the poison control number, 1-800-222-1222, staffed around the clock, and the National Battery Ingestion Hotline at 1-800-498-8666. An LED key is easy to overlook as a battery hazard because it presents as a key, and the recall notice makes clear the real exposure is the cell inside the plastic head, which the CPSC says a child can reach.

The remedy has a few practical conditions. Owners can keep using the lock and the non-LED keys, so the bike stays protected, and only the LED key goes back. The refund covers the key at $5, which is a fraction of the $25 to $65 the full sets cost, and Giant will ask for the lock’s purchase record or a photo of the serial number because the covered ranges are limited to nine configurations. Anyone with a SureLock bought before March 2023 holds a key outside the recall, since only keys made after that month are included.

To claim the refund, an owner brings the LED key to an authorized Giant retailer with either the full lock purchase record or a photo of the lock’s serial number. Giant’s customer line is 866-458-2555, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific, Monday through Friday, and its email is [email protected]. The batteries should be disposed of or recycled under local hazardous-waste rules. Incidents involving other products can be reported at SaferProducts.gov.

How the agency learned of the defect goes unstated in the CPSC listing, and it lists no injury tied to these keys. The notice also does not break out how many of the keys remain in use, and it points to a joint recall with Canada, where the 1,395 units were sold.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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