Front Seat Heater/cooler Problems of BMW 740

When seat heater switched on, a burning smell resulted. I switched it off immediately. Inspection of seat afterwards resulted in finding a spot where the leather was burned. Clearly this could result in a burn to the driver or a fire.

See all problems of the 2000 BMW 740 🔎.

While returning from church today my left buttocks got hot. . . Had the a/c on since it was warm outside. Reached back and it was very hot. . . Then smelled smoke. Was able to pull over quickly and stop car. The leather seat was smoking and had burned a hole about the size of a nickel and through to my pants. Discovered the seat heater was on high. . . Have no idea how it got turned on. Nice hole in pants and leather seat. Any reports of this from other BMW owners?.

See all problems of the 2001 BMW 740 🔎.

Two days after purchasing a 2000 BMW 740il with 45,000 miles on it from a friend, I left my driveway and activated the driver's side heated seat. After driving several hundred yards, I began to smell smoke. I stopped the vehicle to try to determine the source of the problem. My wife was following in another vehicle and pulled along side me. I rolled down the window and wife said "there is smoke coming out of the window!". I turned off the seat and opened the door and looked at the seat. There was a burnt spot approximately the size of a dime high on the outboard bolster of the driver's seat. I touched the spot and it was extremely hot to the touch. My one and a half year old daughter was strapped in her car seat in the back. Before exiting the vehicle, I unlocked all the doors in case I had to go around and pull her from the car. After turning off the seat, the fire stopped. I have researched this issue on several BMW e38 websites and have found several other complaints of this occurrence. One individual said that a service bulletin had been sent to BMW dealers to alert them of this problem in several lines of BMW cars, including some newer models. Fortunately, I had not yet utilized the auxiliary climate control timer function that allows the owner to have the car turn on it's heated seats and steering wheel at a pre-set time before the owner enters the car. Seeing how quickly the seat caught fire, I have no doubt that if this function had been used, it would have resulted in a catastrophic vehicle fire that could have consumed the seat, since presumably the owner would be inside the home or office and could not witness the fire.