Front Seat Heater/cooler problems of the 2004 BMW 530

The contact owns a 2004 BMW 530i. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 25 mph, smoke started to emerge from the left side of the upper cushion of the driver seat. The heater was turned off and the smoke stopped. The contact notified the manufacturer of the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the diagnosis was the heating element was the cause of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 160,000. The VIN was not available.

Started car in the morning to let it warm up and turned on seat heater. Got in car 5 min later to head to work and smoke was coming through seat material on driver seat. Seat heater caught fire and burned through leather and burnt me and my clothes. Burnt left hand thumb and index finger trying to put fire out. From searching online this is a very common problem with no dealers or manufacture of car doing anything to prevent this.

While driving, a smell of burning matter rapidly increased in the car, then immediately followed by a sharp burning sensation in my left thigh. I stopped the car, garbed my extinguisher and looked around the seat for any signs of fire. Then I noticed a black burned hole on the seat bottom left bolster exactly where my thigh burned. It seemed that the seat warmer overheated, and burned a hole in the leather. Turning on the car and warmer again for couple seconds, resulted in sparks appearing through the hole. I contacted BMW of north America, and they informed me that the car is not covered by a warranty anymore, and that there was no recalls related to the seats issued for my car. To contact my BMW dealership for repairs. That I would be responsible for the diagnostic fee and that they might cover a portion of the repairs. Checking similar complaints on NHTSA, I am surprised BMW has not issued a recall for the seat heaters for our cars, specially since it is a serious safety issue.

My vehicle is a 530i with a production date in March 2004, it is my contention that the vehicle should be subject to recall rcdnn-04v575. Despite the December 2004 notice to ntsha indicating that 100% of vehicles with the seat heating option produced between June 17th 2003 and April 30th 2004. BMW insists that my vehicle (production date in March 2004 and containing the seat heater in question) is, according to internal documents which they will not release to me, not in fact subject to the recall. The malfunction described in the recall notice happened exactly as described, burning a hole through my driver seat side bolster. Despite agreeing to remedy the driver side damage to my satisfaction, BMW contends that they are under no obligation to repair or even inspect the passenger side seat bolster, which I contend is defective and was subject to the recall. I have emails from BMW stating my vehicle is not subject to the recall and acknowledging that no recall repairs had occurred they are claiming I am not entitled to view the internal documentation that allegedly shows that the defect was remedied before the vehicle was delivered off the production line. What I find inexplicable and beyond belief, is that they would issue a notification to ntsha in November 2004, a full six months after allegedly remedying defects in cars produced from mid-March 2004 through April 30th 2004 without correcting those dates in the notification letter. BMW refuses to repair or even inspect my passenger side seat bolster heating element despite clear evidence that it is in fact defective and subject to the recall. I would like that problem remedied as prescribed in the recall notice or definitive proof produced that the repair was conducted or alternatively that the redesign was in place on the passenger side seat bolster before delivery of the vehicle. .

My vehicle is a 530i with a production date in December 2003, it is my contention that the vehicle should be subject to recall rcdnn-04v575. Despite the December 2004 notice to ntsha indicating that 100% of vehicles with the seat heating option produced between June 17th 2003 and April 30th 2004. BMW insists that my vehicle (production date in December 2003 and containing the seat heater in question) is, according to internal documents which they will not release to me, not in fact subject to the recall. What I find inexplicable and beyond belief, is that they would issue a notification to ntsha in November 2004, a full six months after allegedly remedying defects in cars produced from mid-March 2004 through April 30th 2004 without correcting those dates in the notification letter. BMW refuses to repair or even inspect my passenger side seat bolster heating element despite clear evidence that it is in fact defective and subject to the recall.

The contact owns a 2004 BMW 530i. The contact stated that the passenger side heated seat temperatures were inoperable. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer and they advised the contact that the heating mat on the front passenger seat would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and they advised him that the vehicle was previously repaired under NHTSA campaign id number: 04v575000 (seats:front assembly:seat heater/cooler) and no further assistance was offered. The failure mileage was approximately 92,000.

Seat heater on 2004 BMW 530i (e60) overheated and became very hot. Smell of burning. Resulted in black charring to the leather seat. No actual flames from overheating. Seat had previously caught on fire resulting in call to fire department to extinguish smoldering seat material. Entire seat was replaced in August, 2005, after prior recall remedy (NHTSA id number 04v575000) was supposedly completed.

The contact owns a 2004 BMW 530i. While driving approximately between 45-50 mph on normal road conditions, the front driver seat heating system activated. Then excessive heat was expelled from the left side corner of the front driver seat back-rest. The heat melted a small hole in the seat cover. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for inspection. He experienced an identical failure referenced in recall # 04v575000 (seats:front assembly:seat heater/cooler). Since his vehicle identification number was excluded from the recall, he was ineligible for a free remedy. The failure mileage was 108. The current mileage was 108,000.

While driving, the seat heater burned a hole in the leather seat, resulting in ignition of drivers clothing (leather jacket and suit coat), which caught fire. Attempts to extinguish the flames resulted in heat blisters and burns to drivers hands, damage to car, smoke damage, and damage to personal attire, loss of work hours, etc. The car was purchased certified pre-owned, however, the recall of the front seat heater was, obviously, not completed by the dealership prior to vehicle purchase.