Pressure cookers make it easier than ever to make complex meals. That said, they’re not perfect machines. Each manufacturer’s pressure cooker requires care if it’s going to continue serving your home well.
Pressure cookers that are poorly manufactured or that aren’t treated with care can malfunction or explode. What defects should you watch for, though? And how can you get ahead of a pressure cooker explosion?
While you can take steps to account for human error, you can’t always account for poor manufacturing. Fortunately, the product liability attorneys with Zanes Law are prepared to help. If your pressure cooker malfunctions, we’ll fight for accident compensation in court.
What Are Some Known Pressure Cooker Defects?
For a pressure cooker to successfully cook your dinner, all of its parts need to work in harmony. If any of these parts were poorly designed or damaged during transport, your pressure cooker may malfunction. At worst, it may explode.
Some of the most commonly known defects for a pressure cooker to suffer from include:
- Faulty gaskets
- Damaged seals
- Clogged or fused vents
Of course, your pressure cooker may take on damage over time, particularly if you don’t make a point to maintain it. That said, manufacturers who fail to safety-check their own products can also be held responsible for damage done to your health and home. This is particularly the case if your pressure cooker appears defective straight out of the box.
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What Are the Dangers of a Defective Pressure Cooker?
Defective pressure cookers pose a threat to the structural integrity of your home as well as your health. If you’re standing too close to a defective pressure cooker, you risk steam burns and shrapnel injuries, particularly when faced with pressure cooker explosions.
Both electric and stovetop pressure cookers also pose a serious threat to your personal property. Heat runoff from unsafe devices can melt your countertop. The force from a pressure cooker explosion can ruin your stove, a cooking hood, and every other device within a fifteen-foot radius of the offending product.
How Can I Maintain a Pressure Cooker?
You may not have the professional knowledge to recognize what a defective pressure cooker looks like. That’s okay. It is not your job to perform a maintenance assessment on a pressure cooker that’s come straight out of the box. Rather, it’s your job to use your pressure cooker as reasonably as possible.
That reasonable care does, however, include regular pressure cooker maintenance. This means that you should try to avoid overfilling your pressure cooker and clean it appropriately. You can also inspect it at least twice a year for early signs of damage.
If you’re concerned about how well your pressure cooker will hold up, consider requesting an extended warranty from a manufacturer. Some manufacturers, like Instant Pot, prefer to limit their warranties to one year. That said, third-party sellers like Amazon may extend your protection for up to four years.
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When Is a Manufacturer Responsible for a Pressure Cooker’s Defects?
A manufacturer must check to ensure that a pressure cooker released onto the market is reasonably safe for home cookers to use. This term “reasonable” allows for some flexibility in terms of what each manufacturer’s health and safety inspection looks like. It also, however, requires manufacturers to keep your well-being in mind.
Manufacturers can be accused of acting unreasonably when their pressure cookers cause significant property damage or injury. You can work with an attorney to establish evidence of the unreasonable release of a damaged product. In turn, you can indicate that the manufacturer in question violated the duty of care owed to you as a consumer.
You can subsequently present a violated duty of care to a county clerk and affiliated parties via legal complaint. If a county clerk believes that your preliminary evidence requires further investigation, you can move your case forward. A judge and jury determine liability in product liability trials. However, you can also discuss fault during settlement negotiations.
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Can You File a Lawsuit If You’re Injured by a Defective Pressure Cooker?
You can file a lawsuit if you’re injured by a defective pressure cooker. That said, your lawsuit will only hold weight if you can indicate that a manufacturer can be held liable for your losses. Our product liability attorneys can help you gather the evidence needed to establish a strong initial complaint.
We can also help you submit your essential documentation within Arizona’s deadlines. A.R.S. § 12-542 lets us take two years to bring our argument together, with the deadline beginning on the same day that your accident occurs. With that in mind, contact us as soon as possible after your accident. We’ll work with evidence on the scene to start building your case.
What Financial Support Can You Receive From a Product Liability Pressure Cooker Lawsuit?
You can request compensation for a pressure cooker accident in your initial civil complaint. This request must include the economic value of all your losses, including:
- Personal injury, including steam burns
- Essential medical care needed to restore your previous quality of life
- Property damage
- Essential property repair and replacement
- Trauma from the accident
- Wrongful death, if applicable
Not all these pressure cooker losses come with a pre-assigned dollar value. Accident trauma, for example, needs to be valued based on the extent of your personal injury and emotional stress. We refer to state precedent to assign an economic value to this loss. We can go over this valuation process with you during an initial case consultation.
How Can Our Attorneys Help You Address a Defective Pressure Cooker?
If you find yourself contending with a defective or explosive pressure cooker, there’s a chance that the product’s manufacturer violated their duty of care. As a result, you may have the right to take that manufacturer to court. You can work with product liability attorneys to file a complaint detailing the losses you endured due to the aforementioned violated duty of care.
Filing a complaint does not force you to participate in a product liability hearing. Instead, approved complaints allow you to pursue either a negotiation, a trial, or some combination thereof. We can work with you to determine what your best path toward compensation looks like.
Zanes Law Injury Lawyers offers free case consultations to anyone who’s considering pursuing a civil suit against a pressure cooker manufacturer. You can contact us online or over the phone to learn more about what our representation looks like.
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