Front Seat Heater/cooler Problems of Volkswagen Passat - part 2

A couple minutes after turning on my heated driver's seat, I felt something stinging my left leg. Shortly after, I began to smell a burning smell, and smoke entered the cabin. I could not pull over as I was on a busy street. I put my hand down there and felt a hole in the seat and the heat of the wire. I turned the heated seats off, and pulled over to inspect the seat. With the seat heater on I could see the light of a wire burning in there through a dime-sized burn hole.

See all problems of the 2004 Volkswagen Passat 🔎.

I had taken my car to the dealer to replace a fuel pump. When the car was returned to me there was a hole burned into the driver side seat. The rep at the dealer said the seat warmer in the driver side seat had burned completely through the seat. He had seen it happen before. But my seat warmer was not on at the time. I don't need to use it in southern California weather. The problem will need to be fixed but the manufacturer should be made to cover the cost.

See all problems of the 2003 Volkswagen Passat 🔎.

The seat heater that comes with this model car, shorted out while I driving the car. It burnt through the leather seat, my trousers and burnt my wallet. At no time was there an open flame. If it wasn't for my wallet, I probably would have been burnt. If my pants were flamable, I would have had a major problem. The Volkswagen dealer will replace the defective, driver side , heated seat at no charge.

The seat heater on the driver side of my car began to burn through the leather seat. It burned the leather on the seat, my trousers and left thigh.

I was driving my 2002 vw Passat with the seat heater on when I noticed the underside of my thigh was very warm. I pulled into a parking lot, got out and looked at my seat and there was a burn hole on the upholstered seat. I had only been driving with the seat heater on for about 15 minutes - on level 3 (or 4 max). I have not turned on the driver side seat heater since and have not allowed a passenger to turn on the passenger side seat heater. Luckily, I incurred no injury and my clothing was not burned, but I am concerned what might happen if someone had not been paying attention, had not been wearing thin clothing at the time, or if a child had been sitting on a malfunctioning seat. I have been to the dealer who said both the driver side and passenger side seat heaters need to be replaced (they said the passenger side was also on its way to burning- although it had not come through the cloth yet). I have not yet reached any resolution with volkwagen, although they have been notified of the problem. I have been told that my particular vehicle was not covered by a recall.

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Heated driver seat burned through seat cover and the occupants coat before smoke and heat alerted occupant to turn off the seat. Occupant turned off the heated seat and exited the vehicle to clear smoke. Initial reaction of dealer was to schedule service one week out due to their scheduled volume of service business next week, as if burning seats are a common occurrence.

Driver's heated leather seat burned leather seat and my skin.

This morning, I started my car to head out to do some errands. Since it was cold, I waited for the car to warm up, and as I did, I turned my seat warmer on to level one (the highest is level five) and as I waited for my car to warm up, I noticed a burning smell and saw smoke. I got out of the car, turned off the motor, and found that the seat warmer had burnt a small hole in the seat, and had begun to burn my pants as well. There was no flame, but it was quite distressing. I am awaiting word from the dealer (since it is Sunday and they are closed) but I thought this should go on record.

Driver's side seat heater burned hole through seat cover. Burn through could have resulted in personal burn, however, I stopped prior to any injury. Dealer is considering replacement of all damaged parts.

While pulling out of my garage this morning, I smelled something burning. I exited my vehicle and noticed my front heated seat burned through the fabric and caught fire (small flame). I had to put it out with my hand. Afterwards, I noticed the seat sparking. I called the dealership and they said to bring it in for review by the service manager. It was on the 2nd setting and also burned on my jacket.

- while the contact was driving the vehicle with the seat warmer on, in a 2003 volkswagon Passat, it burned a hole on the front driver seat. The contact had a slight burn on her coat and had to shut the vehicle off completely and kept the seat warmer on zero in order for the seat not to continue to burn. The contact currently has vehicle at dealership. The current and failure mileage were both 60543 miles.

My seat warmer on my 2004 Volkswagen Passat 1. 8 turbo was turned to a setting of "2". After just two minutes I smelled something burning and felt a burning sensation on my leg. I looked down and the seat warmer had burnt a two inch whole through my cloth seats, and burnt my jeans as well. It also left a small burn on my leg, like someone had bumped me with a cigarette.

Seat heater on driver's seat got extremely hot. Burned driver's skin but not through the leather. Smelled of smoke. Dealership stated multiple problems with seat heaters catching fire, yet no recall. Dealer will be happy to replace seat/heater at my expense since out of warranty.

Drivers side heated seat element burned a whole through fabric. .

Drivers side seat heater shorted out and burned a hole in seat cover. Seat was dry and tempeture set at low.

- the contact owns a 2004 Volkswagen Passat. The contact stated that the heating seat malfunctioned. The heating coil burned a hole in the seat, and burned the contact's leg. The driver's front seat had a silver dollar size hole in it, with a wire sticking out of the seat. The vehicle's seat began smoking and she turned off the car immediately. The contact planned to take the vehicle to the dealer on 02-09-07. Also, the contact had a recurring problem with the transmission. The contact stated that usually when driving at 55 mph on the highway, and as she began braking the car jerked or threw the contact as if someone haad rear ended her. The contact stated that this happened at least once a week. She had taken the car to the dealer because they were not driving on the highway they were not able to duplicate the failure. In both instances neither weather nor speed were factors.

Started car, heated seat setting was on 1 (lowest setting). One of the heaters must of shorted, I felt something on the side of my thigh right away but didn't see anything. Within one minute, noticed burning smell, smoking. Looked down, saw smoke and small flame. Immediately turned off seat heater, jumped out of car. Seat had burn hole size of silver dollar and was hot in that area only. Since it was christmas, I couldn't take it back to the dealership until the next day. When I got into car later, even though seat heater was off, I got a small shock when I started car. Car is still under warranty and dealership has been very helpful and was quite concerned, but can't replace parts right away (parts had to be back ordered from germany). They disconnected the heaters for me because I prefer driving my car around instead of the rental they offered. But will not be replacing passenger heating element for me.

Was using the heated drivers seat as I was driving down the highway in cold weather. The seat began to overheat, caught on fire, burned a hole in my pants, and burned through the padding and seat fabric in my 2003 vw Passat. I quickly turned off the seat and pulled off the highway as soon as possible, and put out the smoldering seat. The seat, padding, heating elements, and my pants are completely ruined.

: the contact stated while driving 35 mph, a burning smell was noticed and the driver seat was hot. The contact noticed two holes were burned in the seat. The dealer was notified.

My driver seat started on fire while driving. I was lucky to have had a can of soda on hand to pour on it because the flames were coming from deep inside the interior of the foam padding inside the seat. I was not injured, but based on the size of the flames, could have easily lost my entire car if I had not been on a slow road (able to stop quickly) and douse it with something wet. I noticed that the seat warmer was on so immediately shut it off. Several days later I turned the warmer back on to see what would happen - within 60 seconds smoke and sparks were visible from the hole caused by the original fire. There were real flames and my car was full of smoke. Had I not been able to put them out quickly and had my children strapped into their car seats at the time this complaint would probably be a death notice.

2004 Volkswagen Passat tdi - seat heater wire in passenger seat, side bolster ignited seat material. No open flame - polyester material smoldered, producing a dime-sized hole, through which the red-hot wire could be seen. Caused passenger discomfort, spread smell of smoke throughout cabin, alarmed passengers and drivers. No medical attention required.

Driver seat heater shorted out and burned a hole in the leather of the car seat. Manufacturer would not replace.

Wife was driving 2004 vw Passat sedan with heated seats turned on. She felt a sharp burning in the side of her leg that slowly intensified. As she looked down at her leg she saw flames coming out from a dime sized hole. The seat was damaged and her leg was burned.

2003 Volkswagen Passat v6 (heated seats)- heating element burned hole in leather seats while driving vehicle! had to pull over to side of road as the seat became very hot and started to scorch my pants. Despite a number of recalls (and complaints filed by others- many listed on the NHTSA site) for both Passats and jettas, Volkswagen of north America refuses to pick up the cost of the $1100. Repair (or any of the cost for that matter) because they insist my VIN is outside of the range of vehicles affected and my vehicle is out of warranty. There is clearly a safety problem here and vw knows it. They say a different heating element was used in my car so it isn't part of the recall. Who cares which element was used? it still resulted in the same problem- a burned seat.

Driver's side car seat started smoldering then flames appeared. Turned off car seat heater and extinguished with water.

: the contact stated after 15 minutes with the driver side seat heater on, the seat began to smoke and then smoldered. The vehicle was driven home and was turned off. The driver sustained minor injuries. The vehicle had not been seen by a mechanic.

I had just began leaving a supermarket parking lot when I felt a burning sensation on my left upper thigh. I reached down to determine why and then smelled something burning. Looking down, I saw a burn hole in the driver seat, left side, toward the back of the seat. It looked like a cigarette burn. I immediately turned the seat heater off, which was on 3, pulled over and extinguished the smoldering with my hand. The dealers initial response was that my car was out of warranty but they would see if it could still be covered at no charge. I'm waiting on a response. This seems to be a relatively common failure based on the complaints that have been filed and is definitely a safety issue.

: the contact stated the front driver seat's heater element burned through the seat and caught the contacts clothes on fire. The contact sustained burns to the legs. The vehicle was taken to a service dealer. Updated 12/01/06.

The heated drivers leather seat element burned through the leather and burned a hole in my pants. I felt the burn and got out of the car, and turned off the seat heater. I was parked in my driveway waiting for the windows to defrost. The car is a 2003 vw Passat 1. 8t. I called a vw dealer, and they said to bring it in for inspection.

2003 vw Passat heated seat burnt through the leather. I had burnt sensations while driving and smelled burning. . Very scary and dangerous. Good thing I was quick thinking and turned off the heated seat immediately.

While my husband was driving our 2003 awd Passat wagon with myself and two children in the car, the driver seat caught on fire. At the time it caught fire, the heated seat was on setting 3 for no more than 5 minutes. Luckily, my husband was able to pull off the road, exit the vehicle, and turn off the heated seat before he was burned and/or a large fire erupted.

I got into my car for the first time that day - around 11:00 am. I started the car, adjusted the heat and put on the driver's side seat warmer. After about 15 seconds, I smelled something burning, but was unaware of what it was. At the same time I felt something cutting in to my leg. I put my hand under my leg to see what was poking into me but couldn't find anything. The smell was getting worse and the stabbing pain in my leg was still there. After about 60 seconds there was smoke coming from my seat and I realized the smell was coming from inside my car and the seat warmer was burning. I pulled over, shut the car off and jumped out of my car. I pressed my hands to the seat in an attempt to stop the burning and smoke. I waited a few minutes and when I was convinced the burning had stopped, jumped in my car and headed back to the hotel I had been at. I removed the fuse for the seat warmers.

After turning on the heated seat option of my car I started to smell something burning. After about a minute I felt something sting the left side of my buttocks towards the side. With in seconds I realized that it was my seat burning my bottom. Not only my bottom, but a whole right through the seat and my jogging pants. I quickly turned off the heat to my seat. Looks like a cigarette burn. My husband and I were afraid to leave the car in the garage in case it was still smoldering and potentially start a fire. I called our dealer and was told that my car was no longer under warranty. Past mileage. They suggested that I contact the manufacturer which I have not done quite yet. I am afraid to turn it on again of course!.

I turned on the driver's heated seats when I felt them hotter than usual, seconds later I smelled something burning and then I saw smoke coming up from the left side by my seat. I jumped out of the car and found flames visible coming from inside the seat. I put the fire out. I called the dealership and they are supposed to fix it.

Use of driver's side seat heater created burning sensation in the region of my left hip and scent of singed/burning material arose from the seat. The seat heater was immediately turned off, however a burning smell persisted for 3-5 minutes. I have use this feature in the same vehicle without incident for 2. 5 years prior to this occurrence.