Lawsuit Alleges Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker Exploded, Causing Serious Burn Injuries

Complaint comes less than two months after nearly 2 million of the pressure cookers were recalled, due to explosion risks.

A Texas woman says she suffered severe burn injuries when her Ninja Foodi pressure cooker exploded suddenly, spraying her with its boiling hot contents.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Krystle Johnson in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on July 2, naming SharkNinja Management LLC and SharkNinja Operating LLC, the Ninja Foodi’s manufacturers, as the defendants.

The Ninja Foodi is part of a newer generation of electronic pressure cookers marketed with built-in safety features, including technology to keep the lid sealed while pressurized. While these designs are intended to prevent the kind of unexpected explosions that were a known risk with older models, multiple pressure cooker recalls have been issued in recent years over design flaws.

Earlier this summer, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a SharkNinja pressure cooker recall affecting nearly 2 million units, indicating that the manufacturer had become aware of at least 106 burn injury reports related to Ninja Foodi pressure cooker lids opening while still under pressure. The agency reported that at least 50 of those cases involved second- or third-degree burns.

As a result of this recall and others like it, Johnson’s complaint is one of a growing number of pressure cooker lawsuits filed by former users against SharkNinja, as well as Crock-Pot, Instant Pot and other pressure cooker manufacturers in recent years, alleging that supposed safety features failed to prevent explosions and left users with severe, often disfiguring burn injuries.

According to the lawsuit, Johnson was using a Ninja Foodi pressure cooker on August 17, 2024, when the device exploded without warning, spraying its contents all over her face, chest, arms and upper legs, resulting in severe first and second degree burn injuries.

“It was the duty of Defendants to design, manufacture, test, market, advertise, label, distribute, and sell Ninja Foodi(s) so they are reasonably safe for foreseeable use. At the time the Subject Pressure Cooker left the hands of Defendants, it contained one or more conditions that rendered it defective and unreasonably dangerous in light of its nature and intended use.”

–Krystle Johnson v. SharkNinja Management LLC and SharkNinja Operating LLC

The lawsuit indicates there was no reason for the explosion, either in how the device was being used or the condition of the pressure cooker, suggesting that the flaws were in the design and manufacturing of the product. 

Johnson argues that the explosion was a foreseeable risk that should have been prevented by the advertised safety features, had the device been properly designed and adequately tested by SharkNinja.

She presents claims of design defect, manufacturing defect, marketing defect, failure to warn, negligence and gross negligence.

SharkNinja Pressure Cooker Lawsuits

Johnson’s claim joins at least 30 similar lawsuits filed against SharkNinja as a result of injuries sustained from exploding pressure cookers. Many of these complaints raise similar allegations that users suffered from serious burn injuries when the product’s lid exploded off a Ninja Foodi pressure cooker during normal use, spraying them with scalding hot contents.

Ninja Foodi is not the only pressure cooker linked to explosions. In 2023, a Best Buy Insignia pressure cooker recall was announced for nearly 1 million devices, and a Sensio pressure cooker recall pulled about 900,000 devices off store shelves. Both were linked to pressure cooker explosions caused by failures of the lid safety designs.

Given design problems linked to products sold by various manufacturers, including Ninja Foodi, Instant Pot and others, financial compensation may be available to those who have suffered injuries due to pressure cooker explosions. Pressure cooker injury lawyers provide free consultations to help determine whether individuals nationwide are eligible to pursue a lawsuit.

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