Front Seat Heater/cooler problems of the 2009 Toyota Venza

The seat heaters in the vehicle don't work like they should. Sometimes there is a burning smell to them. The drivers side one went out completely about 2 years ago and we had it fixed now the passenger one isn't working at all. The drivers side seat heater gets pretty hot too and has to be shut off.

Vehicle is 9 years old, but with only 56,135 miles and very well maintained. Driven by a small female, which is relevant. Experienced an acrid, burning smell which caused gagging and coughing. No smoke visible. Dealer found problems with heated seats, wiring and connectors. Entire heated seat system needs replaced at cost of $1130. 30 for each seat. Many complaints of this issue online. There is no way that a small framed female's weight caused damage to the wiring within the seat heaters. This is obviously a manufacturing defect and should be covered by Toyota regardless of the mileage, due to this being a safety hazard. Could easily cause a catastrophic fire.

The driver's side seat heater in the leather seat worked fine until a couple of months ago, approximately 80,000 miles. Now when it is turned to the on position there is a smell of burning electrical wiring. Seat heater was turned off, then on again a couple of times to test it. This happens whether the car is stationery or on the road, just any time the seat heater is turned on. Now the seat heater is off and will not be turned on because of the fear of an electrical fire. This VIN number is not under the current seat heater recalls. It appears from the other complaints, there are many other cars of this make with the same problem and not under the current recalls. There should be more recalls, and there should be a repair, not just a disconnect the wiring. People pay good money for the comfort features and this should not be ignored.

Seat heater or driver side heats up too hot and too fast. Smells like wires are burning. Brought to dealer they are pushing us to install a new seat for $5200. 00. And charged us $112. 00 for diagnostics. And did not disable the heater. They left it in an unsafe condition. Car was turned on in park also happens while driving. (answered no fire below but you could smell the wire or something burning).

The driver heated seat no longer works, at all. I purchased it used with 46k miles and it worked for one winter (2014) but no longer. The light for the heater comes on but there is no heat emitted. There are multiple recalls for this available but none for my VIN #. Dealer estimated $1200+ to fix something that is a known issue for my year and model.

As with certain 2009 Venzas manufactured in the southeastern USA, I have one I was told was manufactured in the gulf states, where the driver's seat heater wiring has also been damaged. Unlike southeast Toyota distributors, llc (set), there has been no other recall by gulf states Toyota distributors (gst), and it's quite concerning. I'm finding several people owning Venza's who are having a similar issue. "the affected vehicles may experience compression of the seat cushion which may damage the seat heater wiring. Consequence: damage to the seat heater wiring could cause the wires to short, increasing the risk of the seat burning and causing personal injury to the occupant. ".

On 1-22-13 we had the seat heater on the driver's side repaired. We observed that the cab would fill with the smell of electrical wires burning when we engaged the seat heater. It first occurred approximately 1 month prior, but at that time I could not determine what was causing the smell. An online check revealed that NHTSA had announced a recall for seats: front assembly;seat heater/cooler on November 19th, 2014, ref: 14v743000. I would request that our VIN be included on the recall list, so that we could be compensated for the repair. Thank you.