Front Seat Heater/cooler Problems of Volkswagen Passat - part 1

My son was driving (in motion) on hwy 17 in miller county mo with seat heater on Saturday Nov. 28, 2020. Seat caught on fire. I had noticed when I had seat heater on previously it became so hot as to burn legs. This is a serious problem. It could have burned my car completely. Very dangerous.

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Malfunctioning driver's side seat heater, burning hole in seat.

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My car was part of a recall because the drivers side seat heater was overheating and melting through the seat. I took my car in for the recall and this issue should have been resolved. But yesterday I had that exact issue - within 4 to 5 minutes of turning on my drivers side seat heater it burned/melted through the seat and burned me.

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Tl-the contact owns a 2005 Volkswagen Passat . The contact stated that while driving at approximately 70 mph , the seat heater burnt a hole in the passenger seat and passenger coat. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacture was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 200,000. Jw.

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Heater stopped working and blew cold air. Brought car into vw dealer be serviced. Heating system was flushed with cleaner. A couple of days after "repair," car was driven with the passenger seat heater on and a 1 1/4" hole burnt through seat exposing burnt heating element and burnt foam. Heater stopped working a couple of weeks after above "repair. " returned to dealer to redo repair and requested the seat heater and seat upholstery leather replaced. Told that it would cost $1000. 00 and that it would be the owner's responsibility. Clearly the seat heaters on this car model are defective given all the complaints and prior recalls. Vw replaced the driver's seat heater with a recall. . . Which leads to the obvious question: "why weren't the passenger side seat recalled as well?" was this a calculation on the part of vw corporate. . . . That the cost of replacing the driver seats through a recall was less that the liability due to burns/accidents/loss of life. . . But the cost of replacing the passenger seats through a recall was calculated to be more than the liability there? this does not smell good. Class action suit seems appropriate.

On 10/20/11, I started my car and turned on the driver seat heater to 2, to warm the seat. I proceeded to drive to a 9 am appointment within 2 miles from my home. After driving just a couple blocks, I smelled a slight burning smell, but thought it normal since I had not used the seat heater in quite some time; it was just like turning the heat on in a home after several months of non-use. Within a few short blocks, I felt a sting in my left leg and thought it could have been a pine needle, so I shifted my body position to alleviate the issue. After a couple more short blocks, another stinging sensation. At the next stop sign, I reached down with my hand to feel what could be causing the stinging of my leg. I felt a hot spot in the left side of my seat and turned off the seat heater since my seat had warmed enough to be comfortable, but I did not think my seat was burning, so I continued on to my appointment. I went in to my appointment and came out to my car an hour and a half later. I noticed what looked like a small cigarette burn in the seat and a horrible smell in the car. I returned home and told my boyfriend about the incident.

Heated seat coils overheated and burnt seat on driver side. 1 year after recall was done by [xxx] vw brockton MA, they told me the heaters in the seat are no longer under warranty and told me to call vw USA with my problem, information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

The contact owns a 2005 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated the driver side seat warmer ignited a fire and burned through the seat. There were no injuries. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for the repair. The manufacturer was contact who stated that they would discuss the repairs with the dealer and give him a return call on the repair costs. The failure mileage was 81,500.

The contact owns a 2003 Volkswagen Passat. While driving approximately 55 mph with the heated seat engaged, the contact felt a burning sensation coming through the seat. The vehicle was pulled over and the contact noticed there was a burned hole through the front driver seat as well as a burn to his pants. The vehicle was not taken to have the failure diagnosed nor repaired. The failure and current mileage was 54,000.

2003 Volkswagen Passat wagon with cloth heated seats. While using heated seat option, felt burning on right leg. Found seat heater had melted right bolster of seat cushion.

I drove on a cold day to a meeting and as a result I got a 2nd degree burn on left buttock after leaving seat heater on number five for one hour and twenty minute drive. I am a partial paraplegic thus, I was unaware of temperature and unaware of increased temperature.

2004 vw Passat gl 1. 8t with 94,000 miles. Drivers side seat heater has burned through seat and into my leg while driving with seat heat in use on setting #3. There is now a hole in drivers seat where burn occurred.

I was driving my car, a 2004 vw Passat GLS, to work in the morning and had the driver's side seat heater on. About 2 miles into my drive I could smell that something was burning. At first I thought it was something burning outside, so I rolled the windows down to see if the outside air smelled of smoke. The outside air did not smell of smoke, so I quickly started thinking of what else could be burning. I also had the cabin air heat on, so I decided to turn that off and also turned my seat heater off, which is when I noticed smoke coming up from the driver's seat. I identified the location as the left part of the seat bottom and saw the burning area, which was clearly being cause by a heating component of the seat heater. I was trying to put out the smoldering and smoke with my hands. I could tell that my leather seats were still smoldering/burning so I put water on my hands from a water bottle that I had nearby to cool the leather and prevent further spread of the smoldering. Note that this was all within approximately 10 seconds, and I was driving. This is a huge hazard for which vw should be held responsible.

2008 vw Passat wagon. This car while parked, running and occupied, in a garage had a fire whose point of origin was the area of the driver's seat. The fire investigation determined the cause to be accidental mechanical. The fire caused significant damage to a single family home, damage estimated at about $200,000 also one occupant of the home had to be transported by ems for smoke inhalation. The driver of the car stated she to leave. She placed the 5 â½ year old in the child seat of the Volkswagen and opened the garage door. She started the car and smelt smoke. Immediately shut the car off and called the husband. The husband said that it was probably the seat heater, had her turn off the seat heater and restart the car. She restarted the car smelt and observed smoke again, turned off the car, got out and saw flame underneath the drivers seat. She removed the daughter from the car and took her out to the driveway. She then went back into the garage and removed a gas can from the area of the car/snowblower. She again re-entered the garage and opened the other garage door (both now open) observed flames shooting out of the drivers door of the car. She exited the garage through an interior door, closing it behind her. She then went up into the house removed two dogs to a crate on the deck. In the meantime a neighbor had grabbed the little girl. While all this was happening the mother placed three frantic 911 calls. The owner of the car stated he had had problems with the heated seats in the past and that they had been repaired twice. The last time in November of 2009. The derry fire department has completed its fire investigation, and the car is being turned over to the insurance companies (state farm and liberty mutual).

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I own a 2005 Volkswagen Passat GLS. The factory installed seat heater malfunctioned the other day producing smoke, burning my buttock (and finger when I reached down) and burning two pea sized holes on the drivers seat. The local vw dealer was aware of the issue. I also called the district vw office at 1-800-822-8987 and notified them of the problem. Apparently vw is covering the cost of repair on some but not all vws. I was told the 2005 Passat is not covered under any kind of extended warranty. However, the district office is investigating the issue and promised to get back to me by days end tomorrow. To me this is a safety issue. Other then minor burns to my buttocks and fingers, I was able to safely pull over and turn off the seat heater. The heat and smoke went right away. When I asked about the safety, the vw dealers service department suggested I not use the heaters until they are repaired. I asked about disabling them via a fuse of something but they said unfortunate the fuse controlled other functions in the car. However, I believe this is a safety issue with the 2005 Passat GLS. Im okay but others may not be so lucky. Also, im concerned how the vw dealers service department suggested I just not use it again. What if someone else uses the car and I forget to tell them? the repair bill was estimated at $900+ for the drivers seat only.

I was in the passenger seat of my 2002 Volkswagen Passat wagon, when I felt the seat get extremely hot. I immediately turned the seat heater to zero and just lifted my left leg off the seat a little bit until it cooled down. I didn't think much of it until I first saw a burn mark on the left, back side of my coat and then a line of burn marks and holes on my passenger seat. I investigated a little further, and it appears the seat heater began to also overheat/melt the back part of the passenger seat and the driver's seat along the same line that burned my coat and leg in the passenger's seat.

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The contact owns 2003 Volkswagen Passat. The buttons used to adjust the heated seats have malfunctioned and feel as if they are shocking the driver when they are engaged. The leather around the coils has melted a hole in the drivers seat. Although, the contact has not turned the heated seats on the coil continued to smoke and become heated while driving. The failure mileage was 79000 and the current mileage was 79200.

The driver's side seat heater in my 2003 vw Passat is a potential fire hazard. I noticed what looked like a cigarette burn on the left seat bolster (I do not smoke). The following day, I smelled something burning in the cabin. When I got out of the car, there was a second burn hole about a half inch from the first hole. I have stopped using the heater, but it is a potential fire hazard.

Seat heater remained on after switched to the off position. Heat increased to uncomfortable level, in-dash switch became too hot to touch, and smell of burning plastic filled cockpit (no smoke though).

The contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen Passat. While driving for two minutes with the seat heater activated, the driver's seat caught fire. The contact sustained moderate injuries. Prior to the failure, the vehicle was repaired according to the manufacturer's recall for the seats: heating system. She called the dealer and is in the process of having the vehicle repaired. The NHTSA campaign id number was unknown. The failure and current mileages were 55,000. Updated 5/26/09 updated 05/28/09.

The contact owns a 2003 Volkswagen Passat. While driving at an unknown speed with the heated seat feature activated, the contact noticed that the heater burned through the seat and through his clothing. His leg was burned. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and they stated that the heated seat motor needed to be replaced. The current and failure mileages were 102,500.

The contact owns a 2001 Volkswagen Passat. She stated that while driving with the heated seats on, she began to feel extremely hot. Upon further inspection, she noticed a hole in the driver seat. The dealer stated that she would have to pay $500. 00 - $600. 00 to replace the seat . No repairs were made. The failure and current mileages were 115,000.

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I had a 2005 vw Passat heated leather seat burn my leg and seat. Caused by faulty seat heater.

The contact owns a 2005 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that the heated seats on the driver side of the vehicle caught fire. He was able to extinguish the fire. The dealer stated that they would notify the contact if there was a related recall and he has not received a response from the dealer. The failure mileage was 70,000.

Turned on driver side heater to level 3. Felt a burning on the left side of the seat and smelled a burning odor aprox 30 seconds after starting car. Stopped car and found a small hole burned through the seat on the left rear side. M2 recall had already been checked at the dealer.

The car seat heater (driver's side) burned through the fabric, leaving 1 inch hole in the seat. There was no injury. This happened with normal use of the heater.

Started car up for morning commute and turned on the driver side seat warmer to 5. 5 minutes into the commute a smoke smell filled the cabin. When I arrived at my destination I found that the seat heater had burned a dime size hole through my cloth seat. I am the original owner of the vehicle and have not had an issue since taking possession on 2/14/04. When I mentioned this to the dealer they sounded a bit surprised and stated that they would have to investigate if this would be covered under warranty or not.

Driverside heated seat caught on fire. Burnt 2 small holes through seat and the pocket of my wife's pants.

The seat heater in my 2003 Passat GLS burnt my leg on the lowest setting. It also melting a hole in the cloth interior and discolored other spots. At this point it has not been replaced so the seat is available to look at.

Defect with the driver side heating coil in the seat - today during a 5 minute drive I began to smell something burning on the interior of my car and felt a burning sensation on my leg. I immediately stopped the car and turned it off to investigate. Upon existing the vehicle I saw burning embers on the seat and a 1/4" hole. I was forced to smother out the fire. I have since turned off the heaters and refuse to use them until the problem is rectified.

1. The car had not been used for 4 hours prior to the event and the seat warmers had been used on high earlier in the day with no incident. The car was turned on and the seat was pulled back and then forward to adjust. 2. The car seat heaters were on level 5 and within one minute a very strong burning odor was present and smoke was coming from somewhere around me. I looked around and discovered it was the left side of the drivers seat. I turned off the seat heater and tried to wet the area to prevent the lesather from melting but it was too late and a hole about the size of a cigarette was burned into the seat from the inside.

While driving my 2004 vw Passat, my heated driver's seat burned a hole through the seat and burned my leg, though no personal injury occurred.

(1) turned on drivers-side seat heater while driving (2) smoke began filling the vehicle, and (3) I turned off the heater, but a hole was burned through the left side of the driver's seat and through my left rear pant pocket as well.

At approximately 9:35 pm, November 29, 2007, I entered my 2003 vw Passat and started the engine. The air temperature showed 39 degreesf so I switched on the control for the heated seat on the driver's side to high. Approximately 10 minutes after starting the car it smelled like something was burning. I am a non-smoker. It became apparent that the smell was from inside the car and I began to evaluate possible sources for a fire since the smell seemed too close to be coming from the engine compartment. I began to feel around the seat since I knew the seat warmer was on and suddenly realized that an area under my left thigh was hot. Further investigation, with my hand, revealed that my coat felt burned or melted and the seat was extremely hot to the touch. I immediately turned off the seat heater. The area seemed to cool off slightly so I continued home - about a 10 minute drive. After arriving home I checked the seat and my coat. The seat was still warm to the touch 25 minutes after the switch had been turned off. There is a hole in the leather seat approximately 0. 5 inches in diameter, with flecks of black soot around the edges, about 4. 75 inches from the back of the seat and 2. 5 inches in from the left side of the seat. My coat has an area approximately 0. 5 inches in diameter that is either melted or the seat is melted onto my coat. The incident will be reported to the local Volkswagen dealer on 30 November 2007.

Normal operation of automobile, drivers side seat heater placed on setting level 2. Fire began within the drivers side seat and burnt a quarter size hole through the fabric of the seat.