general problems of the 2008 Mercedes Benz E350

2008 mercedese350 (w211) driver’s seat heater, ~11:48am location: lidl parking lot, 2017 st. Joseph’s dr. , bowie/upper marlboro, MD while I was sitting in the driver’s seat with my back fully against it, the seat heater burned through the leather on the left side of the seat. The cabin immediately filled with smoke. The burning stopped only after I turned off the seat?heater button. I was inside the vehicle during the failure, and the situation created a direct fire hazard; the seat could have ignited, and I could have caught fire. I don’t know if the passenger seat heater is also affected, so passengers cannot safely use their seat warmer. No warning lamps, messages, or symptoms pre failure. Evidence available: video/photo of the aftermath (burned seat left?side damage), the vehicle and damaged seat are available for inspection. Smoke in video/photo. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed?: I’ve not attempted to reproduce the problem for safety reasons, and it has not yet been confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. However, publicly available information shows mercedes previously settled a $54 million class action for the same seat?heater defect in model years prior to 2008. My 2008 model was not included despite experiencing the same dangerous failure. Mercedes is aware this is a known issue. Has the vehicle been inspected?: a dealership inspection at mercedes?benz of alexandria scheduled 12/23/23 at 11:00 a. M. Warning lamps or prior symptoms: none. Safety risk summary: this defect created immediate danger to my safety. The heater burned through the seat while I was sitting in it, filling cabin with smoke and creating a risk of burn injury and the possibility that I could have caught fire. The defect may also endanger passengers if both seats are affected. Broader concern: prevent others from experiencing defect, causing serious injury/vehicle fire. Limits safe use of vehicle for self and passengers. Plus mercedes is aware. Can’t upload video.

I switched on driver seat heater. Less than one minute later I noticed smoke and discovered a hole burned through seat and my jacket.

The driver side seat warmer melted through the leather seat and burnt a hole in my sweater the seat could have got on fire we took the car to Mercedes Benz of lynnwood where our service advisor, john mcdonald took pictures to send to mbenz USA the display panel did not show any error messages or error codes.

I drove a short distance and started to smell burning, and saw some smoke in the cabin. I immediately pulled over and shut down the car. I called my husband and when he arrived we discovered that my driver's seat back had burned through from the seat heater. Luckily I was not injured and the burning did not spread, I assume because I was able to stop quickly and get out.

Driver's heated seat burning?!? I've owned this vehicle since late may of '18. On tues. 11/06/18 after work, I started the car and began driving home. Turned on the heat and the driver's heated seat (it's 30 degrees and snowing here in mn). I take-off and not a minute later I smell what seems to be an electrical fire/smoke. There was likely even a whiff of smoke present. Thankfully I immediately figured it was unfortunately coming from my car and that the heated seat was likely the culprit. Turned it off, pulled over and noticed the pics attached (burned hole in lower right of seat if looking at it head-on). There was the mb-tex crack there prior. Now, I won't (unfortunately) be using my heated seat anytime soon, but my question is, what now? the wife uses her side all the time, never noticed any issues. Pretty scary/surprising and disappointing all at once.

Tl - the contact owns a 2008 Mercedes Benz E350. The contact stated that the driver side seat warmer burned through the seat and the contacts clothes without any warnings. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The technician diagnosed and replaced the seat warmers. A couple of years later, the failure recurred and the seat caught fire. The contact sustained toxic lung injuries due to smoke inhalation which required medical attention. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not available. The failure mileage was 60,000. Pm.

The contact owns a 2008 Mercedes Benz E350. The contact stated that the driver side heated seat failed and overheated. The seat burned the contact through his shirt and belt. The contact stated that he smelled smoke and had to open the windows because the smoke had become overpowering. He then powered the heated seats off before it could cause a fire. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer was notified. The failure mileage was 51,000.