— A Volkswagen seat heater lawsuit is heading to trial after a judge refused to dismiss the entire complaint.
The plaintiff claims she suffered second-degree burns due to a Volkswagen Tiguan seat heater, while VW argues the seat heater had nothing to do with any injury.
Plaintiff Emily LaPrade was in a car crash on New Years Day 2014 that left her paralyzed below her hips and with no sensation below her T10 vertebra.
The plaintiff says since then she can feel a “little bit of tingling” from her T10 vertebra to her hips, “[l]ike if your arm went to sleep and then it was starting to wake up.”
The plaintiff admits she was trained to “be kind of hyperaware, very vigilant of [her] legs” to ensure that she wouldn’t “injur[e] [her]self with either a knife or anything hot.” She also testified the medical staff’s “concern [was] that [she] might burn [her]self and not realize.”
She also testified about past incidents where her thin skin had been burned by spilled liquids and about occurrences of pressure sores.
The Volkswagen Seat Heater Incident
The plaintiff and her husband were returning home in their 2023 VW Tiguan on September 3, 2023, with the plaintiff in the front passenger seat. She eventually turned her seat heater on at the highest of three available settings for about 20 to 30 minutes and then switched to the medium heating setting for about an hour.
She testified she didn't notice any injury until she returned home, finding a blister on her buttocks. When she woke the next morning the outer skin of the blister had peeled off.
The 28-year-old plaintiff also testified she had previously used the seat heater on the highest setting on previous trips.
The seat heater lawsuit asserts Volkswagen failed to warn or provide adequate instructions about the seat heater, a claim that will not move forward in court.
The judge found it's undisputed the subject Tiguan came with an owner’s manual containing warnings regarding use of the seat heaters. One warning states that the seat heater should not be turned on “[when] the seat is occupied by a person with a limited perception of pain or temperature.”
In another section with an orange “WARNING” header, Volkswagen warns “people who cannot perceive pain or temperature or who have a limited perception of these . . . could develop burns or undercooling on the back, buttocks, and legs when using seat heating . . . [p]eople with a limited perception of pain and/or temperature must never use the seat heating and seat ventilation functions.”
The plaintiff and her husband admit they never saw the warnings prior to the injury because they never read the Tiguan owner's manual.
"Anyone experiencing reduced sensitivity to pain or temperature due to medication, paralysis or chronic illness (e.g. diabetes) could sustain burns on the back, buttocks and legs when using the seat heating. These burns may take a long time to heal or may never heal fully. Please consult a doctor if you have questions about your own state of health. Anyone experiencing reduced sensitivity to pain or temperature should never use the seat heating." — Volkswagen Tiguan owner's manual
While the VW lawsuit alleges the seat heater was defectively designed because it ran at unreasonably high temperatures and caused the plaintiff to suffer second-degree burns, VW argued the evidence shows the opposite.
Volkswagen told the judge the design of the Tiguan’s seat heater was not defective and never found defective by the automaker or safety regulators. In addition, VW contends the plaintiff's injuries "were not proximally caused by any defect."
VW also argued the plaintiff's expert who testified the seat heater temperature was too high should not be involved in this case because he isn't qualified.
According to VW, the expert hired by the plaintiff, "(1) has no background in vehicle design; (2) did not refer to relevant SAE or ISO standards; (3) and did not conduct any measurements on vehicles other than Plaintiffs’ Tiguan."
However, the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff on her design defect claim and will allow testimony from the plaintiff's expert based on his test results. The expert testified the seat heater temperature was set too high from the factory.
"The plaintiffs’ design defect claim may proceed to trial. Plaintiffs’ defective warning claim and Mr. LaPrade’s claim for loss of consortium are DISMISSED with PREJUDICE." — Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright
The Volkswagen seat heater lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington (Tacoma): Emily LaPrade, et al., v. Volkswagen AG, et al.