Rise of Soft-Close Doors
It’s a pretty common option on luxury vehicles and standard on megabuck cars. Soft-close doors are a neat feature and an elegant way to avoid slamming them shut. It first appeared on the W140 Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and eventually made its way to other plutocrat sedans in the following years.
These days, one can find them on midsize luxury vehicles such as the BMW 5 Series and X5. Call it a gimmick or a useful feature, soft-close doors are here to stay. That said, several automakers have faced suits due to injuries from these doors. In this case, the X5 is the main topic of this week’s lawsuit.
BMW
The Case
Car Complaints picked up a case that saw a New York man who lost the tip of his thumb because of the soft-close doors of his 2013 X5 (E70 LCI). Per the site, the plaintiff “rested his right hand on the driver’s door column with his back facing the vehicle and the door about one-foot open.”
The plaintiff claimed that his complaint was “masqueraded” by a “puppet responder,” and that no fault was found in the vehicle. BMW argued that it’s not the company’s fault if someone didn’t pull their fingers from a door that pulls itself shut. The automaker added, “Plaintiff understood since childhood, not to put a finger or body part in between a door and its door frame while it is closing.”
NY in Favor of the Plaintiff
Despite BMW’s rebuttal, the jury placed blame on the automaker even if they did not find any defects with the car in question. BMW tried to appeal the decision, but the appeals court said it was in violation of New York General Business Law § 349 for “deceptive omission.”
Per the report, “BMW allegedly deceptively omitted the dangers of the plaintiff leaving his thumb in the path of a soft-closing door designed to mechanically pull itself shut.”
The Payout
As such, BMW has been ordered to pay the plaintiff $1.9 million. The breakdown consisted of $800,000 for past pain and suffering, $850,000 for future pain and suffering, and over $250,000 for lost earnings. Prior to that, the plaintiff claimed he faced losing up to $3 million in earnings due to the injury.
Mind you, this isn’t the first time BMW (or any other automaker) has faced lawsuits of this nature. One such case was dismissed after the judge said, “humans have been slamming their fingers in doors since doors were invented, and the doors on BMW’s vehicles are no exception.”
