Two drivers of Mercedes AMG cars have filed a class action lawsuit against the luxury car company in California, claiming that the logo on their driver’s seat gets so hot that it literally brands them and causes burns.
Gabriel Lahijani and Karendeep “Karina” Bath allege the front seats of certain Mercedes AMG vehicles have a design defect where the raised metallic AMG logo is “reasonably expected to contact an occupant’s upper back, neck, or shoulder”, according to the document filed earlier this week in the US District Court of California’s Western division.
The plaintiffs want Mercedes to compensate them for any medical expenses, as well as any pain, suffering and emotional distress they can prove at trial.
They also want Mercedes to pay for other owners to have the logo removed from their cars. Mercedes-Benz couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.
Lahigani, a Los Angeles resident, had leased a new 2026 Mercedes-AMG E-Class vehicle from an authorised Mercedes-Benz dealership in Los Angeles, according to the suit.
He reported receiving second-degree burns on his back on May 31, after entering his vehicle wearing a tank top.
A board-certified dermatologist subsequently documented first- and second-degree burns, describing the injury as "AMG inscribed".
Roughly six weeks later, Bath, a Chatsworth, California resident, received similar burns allegedly from the logo design while wearing a sleeveless top.
After parking her Mercedes-AMG vehicle in Los Angeles, Bath returned to the vehicle and entered the driver’s seat, the suit said.
Her shoulder immediately touched the logo, causing a burning sensation.
In the following days, a mark in the shape of the AMG logo "darkened and became visible on her skin, consistent with a thermal contact burn", the lawsuit said.
In December, Mercedes-Benz USA and parent company Daimer AG agreed to pay US$149.6 million (NZ$254.5 million) to settle allegations that the automaker secretly installed devices in hundreds of thousands of vehicles to pass emission tests, according to an announcement by a coalition of attorneys general.
According to the coalition, between 2008 and 2016 the German automaker equipped more than 211,000 diesel passenger cars and vans with software devices that optimised emission controls during tests but reduced the controls during normal operations.
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