A report from the New York Post puts BMW in the crosshairs of a now-disgruntled customer who lost one of his thumbs after a self-closing door on his X5 decided to shut itself, severing his finger in the process. The irony in all of this is that the feature is known as SCAD, or “Soft Closing Automatic Door.” I guess you could say that’s there was nothing soft about this particular closing, huh?

According to the victim, Mr. Godwin Boateng, he was standing with his hand on the door jam when the door started to close. An Excerpt from the lawsuit reads:

“With the front driver’s door approximately one-foot ajar, the SCAD sensor activated the electric motor, which pulled the driver’s door firmly, and not ‘so softly’ snapped through the flesh, nerves, blood vessels, tendons, musculature and bone structure of Boateng’s right thumb.”

Apparently, Boateng carried his thumb to the hospital, but after closer inspection, doctors weren’t able to reattach it. He now complains of constant pain in his hand as well as an inability to work or do other tasks like tying his shoes or buttoning a shirt. Whether BMW is at fault or if this is just a scam for easy retirement taken too far remains to be seen, but I’m sure we’ll hear more about this in the coming months.

Either way, BMW should probably look into adding a sensor to detect objects in the way to prevent injuries like this from happening in the future.

References

Read our full review on the 2018 BMW X5.

Read more BMW news.