Lawsuit Over Heated Seat Burns
Using heated seats in a car in winter is a real pleasure, but for one woman, owner of a 2023 VW Tiguan, this feature resulted in painful burns. She has filed a lawsuit against the German automaker, and the case will go to court.
Emily LaPrade claims that on September 3, 2023, she was riding in the passenger seat of a Tiguan she co-owned with her husband. According to her, the seat heating was set to the highest of three levels for about 20–30 minutes, after which she reduced it to the medium level for another hour.
Upon returning home, LaPrade discovered a blister, which she believes was caused by the seat heating. It is known that she has been paralyzed below the hips following a car accident in 2014 and claims to only feel a “tingling” from the T10 vertebra down to her hips.
Warning for Owners
In the lawsuit, LaPrade alleged that VW failed to warn passengers about the potential danger of heated seats and failed to provide proper instructions for their use. However, the judge dismissed these claims because the Tiguan owner’s manual states that the function should not be used if “the seat is occupied by a person with limited perception of pain or temperature.”
A separate warning in the manual clearly states that people with reduced sensitivity to pain or temperature may suffer “burns to the back, buttocks, and legs when using heated seats.”
LaPrade and her husband admitted that they had not read the owner’s manual.
Design Defect and Court Proceedings
Separately, the lawsuit alleges that the heated seat function has a design defect and gets too hot, causing the plaintiff second-degree burns. The judge ruled that this claim can be considered in court after the plaintiff’s expert witness suggested that the system could overheat.
This case highlights the importance of carefully reading the vehicle owner’s manual, especially for people with limited sensitivity. While the judge dismissed part of the lawsuit related to warnings, the question of whether the VW Tiguan’s heated seat design is excessively dangerous remains open. If experts can prove that the system heats to temperatures capable of causing burns even under normal use, this could have serious implications for the automaker, particularly regarding a review of safety standards for such features. At the same time, this incident serves as a reminder that even familiar conveniences like heated seats can pose risks under certain circumstances.