Class Action Lawsuit Claims Certain Mercedes AMG Logo Badges Can Cause First-, Second-Degree Burns

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Mercedes-Benz USA faces a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges the raised AMG logo badge in certain Mercedes-AMG vehicles is defectively designed given that it can become dangerously hot with ordinary sun exposure, posing a second-degree burn risk.

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The 23-page lawsuit contends that although the raised metallic AMG logo badges, found on the driver and front-passenger seats in certain Mercedes-AMG vehicles, can be reasonably expected to contact an occupant’s upper back, neck or shoulders, Mercedes-Benz USA has failed to warn consumers that the badges can become hot enough to cause burns in the shape of the AMG logo.

The complaint explains that vehicle interiors, when exposed to sunlight, can reach temperatures substantially above ambient outdoor temperatures, and metallic interior components such as the raised AMG logo quickly transfer thermal energy to skin upon contact.

However, Mercedes-Benz failed to include a thermal safeguard, warning or notice, either on the badge or in vehicle documentation, to alert consumers to the “concentrated” thermal-contact hazard, despite the badge logo’s placement in an area where it could foreseeably contact and burn the vehicle’s occupants, the case claims.

 “When an affected vehicle is parked in the California sun—an ordinary and foreseeable condition—the badge can become hot enough to cause a thermal burn upon brief contact with exposed skin,” the filing states.

Per the filing, Mercedes-Benz knew or should have known of the thermal burn risk but placed the affected vehicles into the stream of commerce without an adequate disclosure of the alleged AMG badge defect. The case adds that consumers could not reasonably discover that the badges were prone to dangerous overheating before leasing or purchasing an affected vehicle.

The lawsuit says that one plaintiff, who leased a new 2026 Mercedes-AMG E-Class vehicle, left his car parked in the sun. When he later entered his vehicle, his back briefly contacted the raised AMG logo on the driver’s seat, causing immediate “severe” pain and a burn “bearing the distinctive AMG design,” the complaint states.

The suit emphasizes that a board-certified dermatologist documented first- and second-degree burns on the plaintiff’s upper back and described the injury as “AMG inscribed” and attributed the burn to the metallic logo badge.

Six weeks after that incident, the second plaintiff sustained a materially identical burn to her shoulder in the distinctive shape of the AMG logo, the filing claims.

“Parking an automobile in the sun and wearing clothing that leaves the shoulder exposed while entering it on a warm Los Angeles day are ordinary and foreseeable,” the lawsuit stresses, adding that the plaintiffs’ injuries did not stem from misuse of the vehicles.

The lawsuit says that Mercedes-Benz’s concealment of the defective logo badge design means that the affected vehicles are worth less than what the plaintiffs and class members paid.

The Mercedes-AMG class action lawsuit looks to cover:

• All individuals in California who, during the four years preceding the filing of the lawsuit through the date of class certification, purchased or leased a Mercedes-AMG vehicle equipped with a raised metallic AMG logo badge positioned on the driver or front-passenger seat in an area reasonably expected to contact an occupant; and
• All individuals in California who currently own or lease such a vehicle, whose vehicle remains equipped with the challenged badge, and who have not received an effective repair or replacement eliminating the alleged thermal-contact hazard.

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