Aldi Pressure Cooker Defects Led to Burn Injuries, Lawsuit Alleges

Although highly touted safety features were intended to eliminate the risk of pressure cooker explosion injuries, a Texas woman indicates that she suffered severe burns when the lid on an Aldi pressure cooker was removed and scalding hot contents were forcefully ejected.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Waleksa Cardoso Schell in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on December 14, indicating that her Ambiano 6 in 1 Programmable Pressure Cooker was defective and failed to prevent the lid from being removed while the contents were under pressure, even though advertised safety features were meant to prevent this from being possible.

The lawsuit, which names Aldi, Inc. as the sole defendant, warns that the pressure cooker has a lid that is still able to be removed while heat and steam are built up inside the device.

“When the lid is removed under such circumstances, the pressure trapped within the unit causes scalding hot contents to be projected from the unit and into the surrounding area, including onto the unsuspecting consumers, their families and bystanders,” according to the complaint. “The Plaintiff in this case was able to remove the lid while the pressure cooker retained pressure, causing her serious and substantial bodily injuries and damages.”

Pressure Cooker Lawsuits Over Safety Feature Failures

The case joins dozens of similar pressure cooker lawsuits filed in recent months, each raising allegations about unreasonably dangerous designs and defective safety features on several modern devices, including Instant Pot, Crock-Pot, Ninja Foodi and other brands.

Most of the accidents involve severe pressure cooker burn injuries that occurred after the lid was removed while the contents are still under high pressure, typically resulting in burns covering a large percentage of the user’s body. However, other injuries linked to pressure cookers have included eye injuries, broken bones and other complications that resulted from electrocutions, spills or explosions.

As more of these electric pressure cookers have been introduced in recent years, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued several pressure cooker recalls over problems where lids were able to be opened while contents are under pressure, allowing hot contents to be expelled and causing a scald or burn injury to individuals in the immediate area.

Most recently, a massive Crock-Pot recall was issued in November 2020, impacting nearly 1 million 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cookers with lid locking defects, after at least 99 burn injuries were reported.