A Los Angeles-area woman says she screamed after getting into her Mercedes-AMG on a hot day and later discovered what appeared to be an AMG logo burned into her skin. Her account comes as two Mercedes-AMG owners pursue a newly filed class-action lawsuit alleging that metallic AMG seat badges can become dangerously hot and cause burns.
Karendeep “Karina” Bath, one of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit, described her experience in an Instagram video shared in late July, 2026. In the post, Bath warned other Mercedes-AMG drivers to pay attention if their seats feature the metallic AMG logo. “If you have this logo on your seats, it will burn you,” she said.
Bath said she had gone to lunch with a friend and returned to her vehicle afterward. When she sat down, she immediately screamed because the seat felt unusually hot.
At first, Bath said she blamed the hot leather seats.
After screaming, Bath said her friend asked what had happened, and Bath initially attributed the pain to the hot leather seats. She said the feeling seemed different, though, and she initially moved on from the incident.
It was not until she got home that Bath said she noticed a mark on her skin. “I have half of the AMG logo burned onto my skin,” she said.
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Bath said she believes drivers should be able to enter their vehicles during ordinary use without worrying about burns. She then addressed Mercedes directly. She concluded, “So Mercedes, if you’re watching this, let’s negotiate before one of these lawyers ends up hopping in my DMs.”
A proposed class action lawsuit says Bath is not the only one.
The account comes shortly before Bath, and fellow plaintiff Gabriel Lahijani filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on August 5, 2026. The case alleges that raised metallic AMG logos embedded in the front seats can contact an occupant’s upper back, neck, or shoulder and become hot enough to cause injuries.
According to the lawsuit as described by the Associated Press, Lahijani, a Los Angeles resident, leased a new 2026 Mercedes-AMG E-Class and allegedly suffered burns after entering the vehicle while wearing a tank top on May 31. A dermatologist later documented first- and second-degree burns and described the injury as “AMG inscribed.”
The lawsuit says Bath experienced a similar incident roughly six weeks later while wearing a sleeveless top. Aligning with her Instagram post, the lawsuit says her shoulder contacted the logo, causing a burning sensation, followed by a visible AMG-shaped mark.
The proposed class action seeks compensation for medical expenses, pain, and emotional distress. The plaintiffs also want Mercedes to cover the cost of removing the metallic logos from affected vehicles, according to the AP report.
The case remains in its early stages. No class has been certified by the court. The AP reported on August 8, 2026, that Mercedes-Benz had not responded publicly to the lawsuit and could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mercedes isn’t the only brand involved in proposed or ongoing class action lawsuits. Costco faces an ongoing suit alleging Salmonella contamination in its rotisserie chickens.
