general problems of the 2004 Volvo V70

I was at our automotive shop and had to give a customer a ride to work. I had the seat warmers on because it was cold outside. About a minute into the drive, I feel a burning sensation on my left outer thigh. I thought nothing of it. The burning sensation got worse, I stated, "something's burning me!" the customer states she smells something burning, like wires. I pull over, hop out of the car to notice a burn hole in my seat. Luckily, I did not get severely burnt, however, my thigh was sore for about 4 hours. After this happened, I went online to see if there was a recall on the seat. There was not. After googling this situation, I found that my 04 Volvo V70 wasn't the only vehicle that has had this issue. Many, many people with the same year, make, and model have had this same issue.

The driver side seat warmer caught fire. It burned a hole through the side of the seat cover and also caused a mild burn to my leg. I stopped the car, shut of the seat warmer, and was able to extinguish the fire while it was still small. A search on the internet revealed that other owners have experienced this problem.

2004 Volvo V70 wagon - the driver seat caught fire using the seat warmers (the temperature was in the single digits).

On Sunday, 24 January 2009, the heating element in the driver's seat in our 2004 Volvo V70 somehow shorted and/or otherwise overheated, causing the seat to begin to smolder and smoke and burned small holes in the side of the leather seat cover. After the heating element was turned off, the materials in the seat appear to have been sufficiently fire retardant to keep the seat from a full-scale conflagration. We had been smelling an unexplained odor for a couple of days prior, which we now believe to have been when the overheating started. To the best of my knowledge there has never been anything done to the seat, and it is essentially if not precisely in the same state as it came from the factory in 2004. The local Volvo dealer (don beyer Volvo, falls church, va) on Monday, 25 January 2009, found that the heating element was the problem, they disconnected the heating element to preclude a fire, said that this was the first they had heard of a problem of this type, and said that the repair (parts and labor) would be covered under our warranty (less deductible). We later on 25 January were told that the repair parts are on back-order and are expected within 7-10 days.