Mercedes Sued Over Soft Close Doors That Cut Off Man's Thumb

The lawsuit filed by Richard J Kastigar Jr., the Chief Deputy of Pima County Sheriff Department in Arizona calls the Mercedes soft close doors also known as power doors as nothing short of a modern-day guillotine. According to the lawsuit, which was first reported by carcomplaints.com, Kastigar states in his lawsuit that last October after returning home with his wife in his leased Mercedes GLE 450 SUV his thumb was cut off by the soft-close function of the GLE's doors.

Kastigar states that he had his back to the SUV as he exited it. His right hand was behind his back with his right thumb on the inside door column when the doors of the SUV suddenly pulled shut on his thumb. Kastigar states that he felt the door crush his thumb and that he watched helplessly as the door cleaved the top section of the trapped digit.

Mr Kastigar was rushed to the emergency room where the physician was unable to restore his right thumb. He then underwent emergency surgery to remove the protruding bone and the surrounding soft tissue and nerves.

In his lawsuit, Kastigar claims that the loss of his thumb means that he'll lose around $500,000 (Rs 3.73 crore) in wages. The lawsuit claims that Kastigar's life has been changed by the loss of a part of his thumb. The lawsuit alleges as per carcomplaints.com, "A once proud and independent man who protects the public from harm now relies on his wife to assist him with going to the bathroom, showering, brushing his teeth, getting dressed and buttoning his shirt. He has great difficulties holding a pen, feeding himself, tying his own shoes, using tools and assisting around the house with chores such as laundry and washing dishes."

The lawsuit states that while the Mercedes soft-close doors work as they were designed to do, they lack a safety system like sensors that would detect if a person's thumb or any other digit is still near the door and in danger of being crushed.

The lawsuit alleges that Mercedes fails to warn its customers about the dangers of soft-close doors. The lawsuit claims that German luxury carmaker should not market or sell any cars with soft close doors that don't have sensors to detect if there is an object in the way.

This is not the first time that a carmaker has been sued over soft close doors in the United States. Both Jaguar and BMW have been sued over the feature which engages when the door has been pushed into the first detent position. When the car detects this, an electric motor then engages and pulls the door shut. While details about the Jaguar case are still scant, the BMW case was dismissed by a judge who stated that humans have been slamming their fingers in doors since doors were invented and the doors on BMW's vehicles are no exception.

Thoughts On The Soft Close Case Against Mercedes

The loss of a part of the thumb is something we wouldn't wish on anyone, especially in the way that it happened in this case. However, if previous cases like the one against BMW are anything to go by we are not so sure about the chances of this one really doing well in front of the judicial system. Hopefully, we'll get to know more once a judge decides to hear the case.