New York Man Claims Instant Pot DUO Unsafe for Consumers

A New York man recently filed a new pressure cooker lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. He claims that after using the Instant Pot DUO 8-quart 7-in-1 Multi-Use Programmable Pressure Cooker, he was seriously injured. He seeks compensatory and punitive damages.

Plaintiff Claims Instant Pot’s Safety Features Don’t Work

According to his complaint, the plaintiff purchased the Instant Pot from Amazon on April 22, 2018. He was using it on October 15, 2019, when he was able to rotate and open the lid while the unit was still under pressure. The scalding hot contents were forcefully ejected from the pot onto the plaintiff, causing him to suffer from significant burn injuries.

The plaintiff blames the manufacturer for failing to warn about the dangerous nature of its pressure cooker products. He notes that on the manufacturer’s website, the Instant Pot is advertised as “easy to use, easy to clean, fast, versatile, and convenient.” The page goes on to state that the pressure cooker has “proven safety features,” including “over 10 safety features, plus overheat protection and safe-locking lid.”

The user’s manual also claims the pressure cooker includes a “safety feature to disable the cooker” and displays a light that “flashes ‘Lid’ if the lid is not positioned correctly.”

To further propagate its message, the plaintiff claims, the defendants use numerous media outlets including social media sites like YouTube. In one video entitled “Getting to Know Your Instant Pot IP-DUO,” the voice-over narrator assures the customer that they “don’t need to be afraid” of the cooker, as it has “10 safety features built in.” Consumers can use the pot “with confidence, knowing that it is not going to explode.”

In a similar video, spokesperson Laura Pazzaglia, founder of the website Hip Pressure Cooking, also boasts of the cooker’s 10 safety features, stating that the pot “detects the position of the lid” and “once the lid is locked, and the contents are under pressure, there is no way to open the pressure cooker.”

Burn Hazards Not Limited to One Brand of Pressure Cooker

The plaintiff claims that the pressure cooker was defectively and negligently designed and manufactured by the defendant and that it failed to properly function:

“Defendant’s pressure cookers possess defects that make them unreasonably dangerous for their intended use by consumers because the lid can be rotated and opened while the unit remains pressurized,” the complaint reads.

Further, he claims that the defendant’s representations about “safety” are flatly wrong and put consumers like him in harm’s way.

This is one of many lawsuits filed concerning allegedly unsafe pressure cookers like the Instant Pot. Other brands including Sensio, Tristar, Crock-Pot, Breville, Wolfgang Puck, and Ninja Foodie have also been named in lawsuits where plaintiffs state that the cookers exploded and burned them.

A few have been recalled, including the Crock Pot 6-Quart Express Crock Multi-Cookers. Sunbeam recalled nearly one million of the units because the cookers could pressurize when the lid was not fully locked.