Perhaps there are some who feel that their BMW is already expensive enough to disturb their pockets, but there are those who become ‘richer’ after owning a BMW.
An American man has won a lawsuit worth USD 1.9 million (RM 8.95 million) after his finger was caught and severed by a door with a soft-close function.
Godwin Boateng, a self-employed software engineer, claimed that the soft-close door on his 2013 BMW X5 was not functioning properly and trapped the tip of his thumb.
In the incident in July 2016, Boateng was resting his finger on the driver’s door of the X5 with the door open about one foot. The door then closed, trapping his thumb until it severed. Surgeons were unable to reattach his finger.
Boateng sued BMW for an amount of USD 3 million (RM 14.13 million), stating that he would face a loss of USD 250,000 (RM 1.12 million) in annual income as a self-employed software engineer.
BMW inspected Boateng’s X5 and determined that there was no issue with the soft-close door. The German company also stated that the owner’s manual warned about the door and mentioned that the “the plaintiff understood since childhood not to put a finger or body part between a door and its frame while it is closing.”
The case gained traction, and earlier this month, the jury agreed to award compensation worth USD 1.9 million (RM 8.95 million). BMW was not found guilty for the faulty door, but the jury still believed the company was 100 percent at fault for Boateng’s thumb injury.
In the lawsuit claim, Boateng argued that BMW’s soft-close door is more dangerous compared to windows that use sensors to detect objects between the window and frame.
The lawsuit also included graphic descriptions of Boateng’s thumb injury, stating that the door not so “softly snapped through the flesh, nerves, blood vessels, tendons, musculature, and bone structure of Boateng’s right thumb.”
Following the assessment, BMW maintained that there was no damage to the vehicle or the functioning of the soft-close door.
However, it is uncertain whether they will make any design changes in the future.
Photos credit: NY Post