Front Seat Heater/cooler Problems of Volvo V70

While driving with my 2 year old. . . I smelled what I thought was my engine overheating, pulled over to take a look and as opened my drivers side door smoke was billowing out of my seat, melting a hole through to the left side of seat bottom, near backrest and seat adjustment buttons. Luckily, after turning the seat heater off the electrical malfunction cooled off. I went to local volve dealership and they said "your car is too old to have a valid recall status", nor did they offer to assist in any way.

See all problems of the 2004 Volvo V70 🔎.

Fyi: Volvo has a silent recall/ replacement of seat bottoms when your seat heater has malfunctioned and burned a hole through your seat. A hole magically appeared in my seat bottom and fortunately didn't burn me. Volvo replaced the entire seat bottom unit with a new seat bottom for free at 188,000 miles!.

See all problems of the 2002 Volvo V70 🔎.

This complaint pertains to the drivers side seat-heater. When activated, on the lowest of 2 settings, the occupant of the drivers-side front seat experiences a burning-pain sensation in the right-rear area of the thigh, after 60-90 seconds of the seat heater being activated via dash button. The owner of the car worries that: 1. ) accidental activation of the drivers-side seat heater, with no occupant in that seat, could result in thermal damage to the leather and padding of the seat, as well as combustion leading to the destruction of the car. 2. ) accidental activation of the seat-heater with an occupant in the drivers-side front seat could result in, sudden and extreme, discomfort to the vehicle operator, resulting in an uncontrollable physical reaction to pain, which could cause the automobile to leave the road, resulting in an accident. 3. ) the value of the car to be decreased upon potential sale of the car, due to the fact that the seat does not heat as intended, and additionally poses a danger to the driver of the vehicle. The fact that this apparatus' failure to operate as intended is in no part due to the owners following of recommended service and maintenance guidelines, would be interpreted as a "defect" by the potential buyer, thus devaluing the car, is worrisome. A fire caused inadvertently, or sudden pain causing a vehicle operator to involuntarily take his/her whole focus off of the task of driving, certainly constitutes a vehicle safety issue. An issue, affecting the immediate vehicles' driver and occupants, as well as other motorists on the road. Volvo submodel: V70 "r".

I smelled something like acetone and did not know what it was. The driver's side seat heater nearly burned my leg before it went cold on the left half. The leather was burnt and puckered on the left outside. When I went to my mechanic, I had them unplug the element so further damage or injury would not occur if the seat heater were accidentally turned on. Pedersen Volvo wants at least $230 to repair damage I did not induce or cause wear to an extreme out of abnormal use. Volvo should honor the quality of the cars it sells by repairing this dangerous mechanism that should simply work safely in good faith for free. This has been a pattern for many Volvo owners, often including significant injury. . Read more...

See all problems of the 2001 Volvo V70 🔎.

My 2001 V70 driver side heated seat burned a hole right through the leather.

Front driver's seat was burned through by the seat heater.

The contact owns a 2004 Volvo V70. The contact began to smell a faint burning odor from the vehicle. The contact inspected and noticed that the driver seat was smoking. The contact turned the seat heater off and extinguished the fire. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where she was told that the seat heater was not burnt and that something under the seat must have caused the fire. The current and failure mileages were 105,000.

Sibling filing complaint for father (my email his name and address listed). Heated seat electrical wire burnt hole through leather upholstery. Instructed to remove fuse for heated seats.

Heated seats malfunctioned and caught seat on fire.

My car is a 1998 Volvo V70 t5 with 75,000 miles on the odometer. At about 7pm on December 28th, 2005, I moved the car from my driveway out onto the street in front of my house, in order to allow a second tandem-parked car out. The Volvo remained parked on the street, doors locked and windows up, until about 10pm. At 10pm I went to move it back into the driveway, only to discover that the interior had caught fire - the fire was no longer burning. The passenger seat was burnt down to the frame, and some of the surrounding trim on the door, dash and center console was burned and melted. The rest of the interior was not burned but was covered with soot. My insurance company - commerce insurance of massachusetts - appraised the car and declared it to be a total loss. I can't say conclusively, but, it appears to me that the passenger side seat heater was the cause of the fire. I note that for model years 1996 and 1997 there was a recall against Volvo 850 seat heaters related to a fire hazard, but this recall does not apply to 1998 models. Perhaps the recall should be extended to later models.

See all problems of the 1998 Volvo V70 🔎.