Lawsuit Claims Metal Mercedes AMG Badges Are Branding Drivers

Two Mercedes-AMG owners have filed a class action lawsuit against the German automaker for what has got to be the strangest reason I've ever heard. Apparently, the little metal AMG logo on the driver's seat was getting too hot, and it literally branded them and caused burns.

While it may be cheaper than an AMG tattoo, Gabriel Lahijani and Karendeep "Karina" Bath don't see the same value proposition I do. They allege that the front seats of certain Mercedes-AMG models have a design defect where the metallic AMG logo is "reasonably expected to contact an occupant's upper back, neck, or shoulder," court documents filed earlier this week in the U.S. District Court of California's Western Division, reported by the Associated Press, show. Now, the dynamic duo wants Mercedes to compensate them for any medical expenses, pain and suffering, as well as emotional distress they can prove at trial. They'd also like the German automaker to pay other owners to have the logos removed from their cars.

The first person to get burned was Lahigani, a Los Angeles resident with a leased 2026 Mercedes-AMG E-Class, the AP reports. The lawsuit says he revived second-degree burns on his back on May 31 of this year after sitting down in his car with a tank top on, and a board-certified dermatologist then documented said burns, describing the injury as "AMG inscribed." That's pretty nightmareish if it proves to be true.

About a month and a half later, Bath, who lives in Chatsworth, California, got similar burns from an AMG logo while wearing a sleeveless top, according to the Associated Press. After parking her car in LA, she returned and sat down in the driver's seat. When her skin made contact with the logo, she immediately felt a burning sensation. In the following days, she allegedly saw a mark in the shape of an AMG logo that "darkened and became visible on her skin, consistent with a thermal contact burn."

Court filings described the issue as a "dangerous and undisclosed design defect," according to Motor1. If you own an AMG vehicle with one of these badges, I suppose your best option is to keep the front seat out of direct sunlight, because that seems to be what's heating these metal logos up — much like the metal shift knobs all manual drivers can tell you about.