Front Seat Heater/cooler problems of the 2007 BMW X3

The driver's side seat heater got excessivly hot and almost burnt my side. I could smell a burning smell so I turned it off. Now you can see the imprint of the coil through the leather seat. I've been in contact with michael pigoncelli at BMW north America and he suggested I file a complaint with the NHTSA. You issued a recall for this exact problem in 2004 with the BMW 5 & 7 series. I feel the issue never got resolved and it is still a problem. There should never be an interior part of a car that could catch on fire and burn someone regarless of the age of the car. I tried to get united BMW to do a "goodwill" fix, but they wouldn't. Mr. Pigoncelli is reaching out to united BMW to have a free diagnostic test run on the seat heater to determine the problem and estimate to fix it, but I don't feel I should have to pay for the entire repair cost.

Vehicle was parked at ski resort since about noon/12pm. Outside tempurature between 24f & 35f. Started vehicle about 4:20pm. Warmed up engine to just under normal operating tempurature. Proceeded to put vehicle in gear & turned on vehicle heater to 91f full speed (auto)circulate, followed by both driver and passenger seat heaters (to level 3 of 3 green lights on button). Drove 15mph speed limit & after about 3 minutes, less than 1/4 of a mile. Smoke began filling the cabin, meanwhile passenger paniced screaming I'm burning, I'm on fire. Immediately pulled over & turned off vehicle, aired out vehicle by opening doors, & invested cause. Found burn on right side of passenger seat. Passenger right leg thigh was burned through seat & clothing. Vehicle has 230k actual oem miles.

Tl- the contact owns a 2007 BMW X3. The contact stated that when the front driver's seat heater was turned on, the contact perceived smoke odor and immediately saw smoke from the side of the seat without warning. The contact turned off the seat heater and opened the window. There was no injury. The contact noticed that part of the seat burned. The dealer was not called. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately. 124,000. Fe.

When driver side seat heater was turned on this month, my wife could smell "burning" material order. She turned it off and reported her problem to me. I took the car out for a test drive, activating the passenger seat heater and noted no odor. I then activated the driver seat and could smell "wire burning order" I left the switch on for another 30 seconds and could feel the seat getting abnormally warm. Turned it off and will not use until trouble shooting completed by BMW service techs, in both instances, we were driving the vehicle.

Due to cold weather, engaged the driver side seat heater. Noticed a sharp pain in my leg and then began to smell and see smoke. Fortuneatly, I was quickly able to realize the seat heater appeared to have a short in it, and turned off before burning through the leather and setting my cloths on fire. I will be contacting my local BMW dealership to see what, if anything they are will to do. I feel there should be a recall before someone is seriuosly hurt or killed. The engine was idling when seat heater was on. I was backing out of driveway and driving down street when I noticed. If I would have had seat heater on and then stepped away from vehicle as it was warmimg up, I am confident the driver seat would have caught on fire or at least severly damaged it.

While driving less than 5 minutes with driver seat heater on, smelled electrical smell, felt pain in leg, then felt shock/burn. Not sure which. Turned off seat heater. Electrical smell comes and goes. Small burn hole in seat. Not able to use seat heater anymore.

The car is equipped with seat heaters. One of the heating elements failed, overheated and burned through the seat surface. In doing research, this appears to be a problem with the vehicles. BMW did do a recall on the x5, but does not show a recall on the X3. On various sites, this issue has occurred many times with owners, some with the vehicle catching on fire. I found complaints on the following sites; carcomplaints. Com, bimmerfest. Com and arfc. Org. Just on carcomplaints, this complaint is shown 23 times; madbury, nh, portland, or, westfield, in, derwood, MD, tampa, FL, annapolis, MD, louisville, ky, bergenfield, NJ, holderness, nh, liberty township, OH, laurel, MD, novi, mi, cromwell, CT, prairie village, KS, hillsborough, nc, daly city, CA, alexandria, va, saginaw, TX, bethesda. Md, pittsburg, PA, selah, wa. Same issue with each. BMW of north America was contacted and their response was "it's a part of wear and tear. . . . No offer to assist" from BMW na. Yet, the issue has continued to arise and BMW na did replace the heater element and seat surface in some instances, making the replacement a matter of preference or discrimination, or dealer's opinion of the car owner versus correcting the manufacturing/design defect problem. I would request the assistance of NHTSA to review this matter and protect the public from hazardous over-heating/ fire threats. I was fortunate to have been just getting into the vehicle and smell the burning leather and turned off the seat heating system before a fire could occur.

While driving my X3 at interstate speeds, I activated the driver side seat heater. Approximately two to three minutes later, my upper leg began feeling very hot and it started smelling like something was burning. I lowered the seat heater temperature from the hottest setting to the lowest/coolest setting, and the temperature remained the same - was extremely hot. A short time later, I also saw smoke. When I was able to pull over, I saw a hole on the seat where the seat heater had burned through. It had also burned through the coat I was wearing creating a hole. Called the BMW dealership to see if they would repair and/or replace the seat heater and seat, and they refused saying they would not pay for the repair since there was not a recall for this defect. Called BMW na and received a similar response.

The driver's side seat has 2 burn holes where the heater has burned through. Often there has been a burning sensation where the holes are. Until it actually burned through we just thought that it was overly hot. We have an appointment to have it repaired. I am surprised that BMW has not recalled this item already.

The contact owns a 2007 BMW X3. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 5 mph with the driver side heated seat activated, the driver seat caught fire. The contact sustained a burn injury that did not require medical attention. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 73,000.

The heater element in the heated seats driver's side burned through the leather and my clothes.

While riding in car, passenger (my wife) turned on seat heat and it got very hot, began to smoke and burned 2 holes in vinyl seat back near right bolster. It burned a hole in her sweater, but we realized what was happening, pulled over and turned off seat heat immediately avoiding a burn to her skin. Hoping it was a fluke, I attempted a vinyl upholstery repair with a kit, but it too melted away when I tested the seat heater. I will not run the seat heater again on either the driver or passenger side until this can be addressed by Bmwna. This is very clearly a serious and well documented issue that could result in fire and/or injury.

My husband and I had just gotten in the car and turned on the seat heaters and not even 2 minutes later, he started smelling smoke. . . He turned the seat heater off and when we got out of the car, there was a pea sized burn in the driver's seat. He also had a burn mark on his jeans that went through to his wallet. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but we had our 3 dogs in the car headed to the vet and this could have caused major problems. I certainly hope this is a problem that BMW will accept responsibility for fixing. . .

On Monday, February 25, 2013 my wife turned on the driver's-side seat heater and approximately one minute later she smelled smoke. She realized that her clothes were on fire and stopped and jumped out and the seat-heater had burned through the leather seat and was burning her coat.

I was driving to work early in the morning and since it was a bit chilly, turned on the seat warmer. Within seconds I felt a painful burning in my left rear "cheek" and smelled smoke and something burning. I immediately turned off the seat warmer and the smoke and smell cleared. When I was finally able to stop and assess the damage, there is a burned spot on my leather seat and I have a burn on my backside. I took the car in to my mechanic and he states that I was lucky it didn't start a fire because the damage to the heating element/wiring is so extensive. I was advised not to use it until it could be repaired. I bought this vehicle used and I did purchase a warranty with it, but it doesn't look like this item is covered. However, BMW needs to step up and fix this. I almost got into an accident because of the pain and I actually thought the car was on fire. I was very lucky that turning off the seat warmer stopped any further damage. I've already noted 7 other seat warmer issues for the 2007 X3 model, I've read numerous other complaints on various other internet blogs (which would definitely increase the number of complaints if those individuals knew where & how to file a complaint like this), and I also know that there have been other BMW models with similar issues where there has been a recall (04v575000 recall date : Nov 24, 2004 ). What are you waiting for? for someone to get seriously hurt or worse, die? this is a serious safety issue that needs to be addressed by an immediate recall. This issue nearly caused a fire while I was driving on the freeway and could have caused an accident!!!.

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The contact owns a 2007 BMW X3. The contact was driving approximately 25 mph when a burning smell was exhibited from the inside of the vehicle and smoke was seen coming from the driver's side seat. The contact's coat caught on fire but the contact was able to exit the vehicle without any injuries. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where they advised that the electric heater failed and the entire seat needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and they offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 47,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Drivers side seat heater got way too hot. Need to turn off to avoid burn of both seat and driver's leg.

The contact owns a 2007 BMW X3. While driving approximately 39 mph the brakes began to involuntarily engage. The dynamic stability control light began to illuminate momentarily before turning off when the brakes disengaged. The failure continued to recur for the remainder of his destination while driving down a winding road. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the dynamic stability control sensor was replaced. The failure continued to occur. He also mentioned that a few months prior a passenger was burned while seated in the front drivers seat with the heated seat feature turned on. A hole was also in the leather seat and the passengers clothing were also burned. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where it was repaired. The failure had not recurred. The VIN was not available. The failure and current mileages were 45,500.