A Texas grandfather’s finger was severed by the automatic door of a Porsche Panamera at his family’s Houston home, according to a lawsuit cited by a recent report.
This report from The Independent explained that the lawsuit claims that 67-year-old Sylvester Plumbar, Jr. of Beaumont, Texas, had just strapped his grandchild into a car seat in May 2023. As he stepped back from his daughter and son-in-law’s Panamera, his index finger became caught in the luxury car door.
“Instead of the door releasing, the door’s power door close assist, or soft-close doors, continued to close, completely severing the index finger of Plaintiff,” said the lawsuit, as quoted by The Independent. Per the report, it was filed this Tuesday in state court.
According to a video on the Porsche website, each of the Panamera’s four doors are equipped with “variable door stops,” that keep the doors in certain positions when they are opened. These vehicles also have the “soft close door” feature that automatically pulls doors closed when the doors are “pulled gently into the lock.”
“The high-end feature uses an electric motor to gently shut the door and is designed to sense the presence of an unexpected object that gets in the way, such as a person’s finger, in which case it is meant to immediately stop closing,” said The Independent. “However, Plumbar’s complaint claims the system malfunctioned and took his digit, leaving him with only nine fingers.”
According to The Independent, Porsche spokesperson Jennifer Bixler told said: “Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on ongoing legal proceedings,” this week in response to an inquiry.
Germany-based Porsche is a manufacturer of luxury, high-performance cars that is owned by parent company Volkswagen. It’s Panamera model currently starts at around $103,000.
Earlier this year, California-based Gibbs Law Group filed a class action lawsuit against Porsche for “allegedly failing to disclose or adequately repair a dangerous defect in the 800V lithium-ion batteries equipped in Porsche’s Taycan electric vehicles.” That suit did not include the Panamera.