Lawsuit Claims Walmart Pressure Cooker Lid Exploded, Causing Burn Injuries

Woman claims safety features failed to stop the lid from being removed while the contents were still pressurized, making the Walmart pressure cooker unreasonably dangerous and defective.

Walmart faces a lawsuit from a Michigan woman who says the lid of one of their pressure cookers exploded, spraying her with its scalding hot contents, causing severe burn injuries.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Khalea Owens in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas on August 28, naming Walmart Inc. as the defendant, indicating that the serious injuries were caused by design defects with the company’s Farberware 7-in-1 programmable pressure cooker.

The Walmart pressure cooker is marketed as part of a new generation of electric models designed with safety features to prevent the sudden explosions seen in older designs, including technology intended to keep the lid locked while contents remain pressurized.

Owens’ claim is one of a growing number of consumers now filing pressure cooker lawsuits against manufacturers of several different popular brands, such as SharkNinja, Crock-Pot, Instant Pot and others. Each of the complaints raises similar allegations that the advertised safety features failed to prevent pressure cooker explosions, which left users with severe and sometimes permanent burn injuries.

According to Owens’ lawsuit, she was using the Walmart pressure cooker on October 14, 2022, when the lid “suddenly and unexpectedly” exploded off the appliance, spraying her with the hot contents, causing severe burn injuries.

Owens states the explosion occurred as she was removing the lid, believing the contents were no longer under pressure. Her lawsuit argues that Walmart marketed the pressure cooker as safe from such explosions, claiming the lid could not be removed while pressurized. She claims this design failure makes the products defective, and unreasonable dangerous.

“Specifically, said defects manifest themselves when the lid of the pressure cooker is removable with built-up pressure, heat and steam still inside the unit. When the lid is removed under such circumstances, the pressure trapped within the unit causes the scalding hot contents to be projected from the unit and into the surrounding area, including onto the unsuspecting consumers, their families and other bystanders.”

— Khalea Owens v. Walmart, Inc.

The lawsuit claims Walmart knew, or should have known, that the safety features were ineffective, yet chose to put profit ahead of consumer safety by refusing to put in place adequate safety features, failing to warn consumers about the risks and failing to pull the devices from the market through a Walmart pressure cooker recall.

Owens presents claims of common law negligence, negligence and breach of implied warranty.

Pressure Cooker Lawsuits and Warnings

What happened to Owens is one of hundreds of incidents that have been reported in recent years where users suffered severe pressure cooker burns. This has led to several major recalls in recent years.

In 2023, a Best Buy Insignia pressure cooker recall was announced that impacted nearly 1 million devices sold at stores throughout the U.S., and a Sensio pressure cooker recall pulled about 900,000 devices off store shelves that same year. Both recalls were linked to pressure cooker explosions caused by failures of the lid safety designs.

Given similar design problems linked to products sold by various manufacturers, including Farberware, Ninja Foodi, Instant Pot and others, financial compensation may be available to individuals who have suffered injuries as the result of an explosion. Pressure cooker injury lawyers provide free consultations to help determine those who may be eligible to pursue a lawsuit.

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