A Mazda 6 owner in the US has filed suit against the carmaker, claiming her vehicle’s heated seats were defective and caused her to suffer harm.
Filed in the Superior Court of California of the County of San Francisco, Kristine Dyvad is suing Mazda for damages suffered – including serious burns and scarring – as a result of the allegedly defective heated seats.
Ms Dyvad’s lawyers, Singleton Schreiber, claim the Mazda 6 owners “would not have purchased the vehicle, or would have paid significantly less, had she been aware of the risk and the vehicle’s defective system”.
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The firm also accuses Mazda of “promoting, advertising, marketing, selling, and distributing vehicles with a known defect in their seat heating systems, which has led to significant physical and economic harm to drivers, who received no advance warning from Mazda”.
Further details of the lawsuit were shared by Car Complaints, with Ms Dyvad reportedly claiming Mazda had previously received complaints about the defect from other owners, but had failed to make customers aware of or acknowledge the fault.
She alleges thousands of Mazda owners – not only of the 6 but other undisclosed models – have been exposed to the claimed defect and suffered harm.
“The lawsuit highlights Mazda’s failure to act responsibly and address the safety issues associated with these vehicles, resulting in vehicles that are less safe and worth less than represented,” alleges Singleton Schreiber.
A spokesperson for Mazda Australia told CarExpert there have been no similar reports locally.
The Mazda 6 hasn’t been recalled here for heated seat-related faults. It also hasn’t been recalled in the US for such an issue.
It’s the second time in less than a month that Mazda has faced a lawsuit in the US due to a feature allegedly causing injury.
As reported last week, Pennsylvanian Mazda CX-50 owner Joshua Meltzer is attempting to sue the carmaker for US$5 million (A$7.35 million) following an incident which resulted in his daughter jumping out of the moving vehicle.
Mr Meltzer claims his daughter pressed the CX-50’s start-stop button which led the dash to prompt her to ‘Depress Brake to Start Vehicle’, at which point she depressed the brake and shifted the vehicle out of Park and into Drive.
With the engine still not running – as she hasn’t pressed the on button while pressing the brake pedal – the car allegedly rolled backwards, at which point she jumped out of it while moving.
The Mazda’s owner claims the common safety feature is defective, an allegation the carmaker has denied.
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