2004 BMW 530I: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Oct 21, 2020 · Engine · 67,000 miles · OH

Smell burning or exhauste fume in the cabin during the first two miles of driving the car!

Filed Mar 25, 2015 · Seats · 115,642 miles · MO · fire · 1 injury

Started car in the morning to let it warm up and turned on seat heater. Got in car 5 min later to head to work and smoke was coming through seat material on driver seat. Seat heater caught fire and burned through leather and burnt me and my clothes. Burnt left hand thumb and index finger trying to put fire out. From searching online this is a very common problem with no dealers or manufacture of car doing anything to prevent this.

Filed Mar 4, 2015 · Electrical, Seats · 127,437 miles · CA · fire · 1 injury

While driving on highway I noticed a smell of burning matter rapidly increasing in the car, immediately followed by a sharp burning sensation in my right thigh. While half-standing I was able to maneuver my car to the highway shoulder. (which was very difficult to do safely, given the traffic was dense and moving with highway speeds.) after I pulled over, turned off the car, came out of the vehicle and looked at the seat, I noticed a burn mark on the leather, exactly where my thigh was when it got burned. It seemed that the seat warmer overheated and burned a hole in the leather. I ventilated the car from the burning odor, which gave enough time for the seat to cool down. After getting to a safer location I tested my theory by turning on the seat warmer ? The issues was reproducible. I went to stevens creek bmw dealership for diagnostics and repairs. They charged me $210.88 diagnostic fee and quoted with around $1,500 for the repairs, implying that they will not fix this issue as ?a good will? Since my car is too old and has too many miles on it and that it has none of the warranties left. I still think they should have fixed it as "a good will" since the dealership diagnosed a short circuit in the seat warmer. The seat warmer should have failed in a fail-safe way by not warming or at least blowing a fuse (and age & miles have little to do with poor engineering).

Filed Jan 15, 2015 · Seats · 168,000 miles · MA

I was driving my girlfriend to work when out of nowhere I smelled something burning. At first I thought it was coming from my surrounding area, not my car. I continued to drive not thinking too much of it. As I continued to drive the smell got stronger. I decided to pull over at a convenience store just as precaution. When I stepped out of the car there was no smell, I open the hood, everything looked normal and there was no smell. I concluded that the smell was coming from the ventilation system. I turn of the heat, it was very cold that morning, turned off the heated seats, and continued to drive. Ten minutes later, I arrived at my girlfriend work place, that's when we realize the smell was coming from the passenger heat. We where shocked to see the right side of her seat had a two inch burnt mark it. When I got home I decided to do an internet search on that matter, and find out that's a common occurrence on this vehicle. Lucky for us, my girlfriend was wearing jean, a coat, and had her cell phone in her back pocket that morning. If that was not the case some serious injurious could have occurred. She had to get rid of the her coat, jean, and cell phone case, but that's far better than going to the hospital. I no longer use the heated seats.

Filed Nov 19, 2014 · Seats · 110,000 miles · NJ · fire · 1 injury

While driving, a smell of burning matter rapidly increased in the car, then immediately followed by a sharp burning sensation in my left thigh. I stopped the car, garbed my extinguisher and looked around the seat for any signs of fire. Then I noticed a black burned hole on the seat bottom left bolster exactly where my thigh burned. It seemed that the seat warmer overheated, and burned a hole in the leather. Turning on the car and warmer again for couple seconds, resulted in sparks appearing through the hole. I contacted bmw of north america, and they informed me that the car is not covered by a warranty anymore, and that there was no recalls related to the seats issued for my car. To contact my bmw dealership for repairs. That I would be responsible for the diagnostic fee and that they might cover a portion of the repairs. Checking similar complaints on the federal safety agency, I am surprised bmw has not issued a recall for the seat heaters for our cars, specially since it is a serious safety issue.

Filed Oct 15, 2012 · Electrical · 101,000 miles · CA

There was a burnt plastic odor, shortly after that smoke came out of the trunk. A cable connected to the battery came loose which cause the power module to burn out. There was a power outage throughout the car, the noticeable ones included; the radio (no image was displayed on the screen and no sound); the car alarm was not working and the bing sound alerting key in ignition, seatbelt not strapped, etc. Was not working.

Filed Oct 15, 2012 · Electrical · 101,000 miles · CA

There was a burnt plastic odor, shortly after that there was smoke coming out of the trunk. There was a cable connected to the battery that come loose, which caused the power module to burnt out. There was power outage throughout the car, the noticeable ones included: the radio (the screen was completely black and there was no sound); the car alarm; and the bing alerting sounds that goes off when key is in ignition, seatbelts are not strapped,etc. Were not working. My technician change the power module then he noticed that the cable that came loose only disconnects when there is a car accidents as a precaution, just the same way the airbags deflate. He advised that it was a manufacturing defect that could lead to an explosion. When I informed bmw center about this problem they said it had nothing to do with a defect that it was "wear and tear", but then again they didn't bother to diagnose it, they didn't even bother to take a look at it!

Filed Sep 26, 2012 · Body, Electrical · 89,859 miles · OH · fire

Car was going to be purchased on 8/24/2012 was told to drive for the weekend. On 8/27/2012 around 3:00 in the morning (after filling with fuel the prior evening) we heard a loud explosion, then followed by firetrucks and ambulances. Upon inspection the bmw in the parking garage was engulfed in flames, windows had blown out. According to fire marshall fire started at battery in trunk and was ignited by gasoline vapors. Caused major fire damage to car parked next to it as well.

Filed Jun 27, 2011 · Seats · NE

On feb 8/9, 2011,my wife was coming back from work in 2004 bmw 530 when she smell something burning and a tinged on her leg, she got out from the car and saw a smoke and a burning mark on the driver seat. I called the bmw on 2-10-2011, and talked to the rep about the safety issue. The rep told me that I will call back in 3/5 days but called me back after 4 week and refused to address the situation.I told the rep that bmw is a reputable company, and they should fix it, and I will report to the safety dept as somebody could get hurt.

Filed Jan 13, 2011 · Seats · 85,700 miles · CA · fire

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 bmw 530i. The contact stated that the bottom of the drivers seat caught fire and left a hole in the middle of the seat. The vehicle was not inspected, but the contact stated that the heating pads over heated. The failure and current mileages were 85,700.

Filed Nov 15, 2010 · Seats · 71,000 miles · MA · fire

Driver's seat on a 2004 bmw 530i e60 almost caught on fire due to heated seats feature. I turned the head seats on and after 5 minutes I started smelling a burning smell and smoke. The fire made a small hole on the seat. I stopped then turned off the car. I was lucky and I was not driving in the highway at high speeds.

Filed Dec 29, 2009 · Seats · 131,000 miles · IL · fire

Seat heater on 2004 bmw 530i (e60) overheated and became very hot. Smell of burning. Resulted in black charring to the leather seat. No actual flames from overheating. Seat had previously caught on fire resulting in call to fire department to extinguish smoldering seat material. Entire seat was replaced in august, 2005, after prior recall remedy (the federal safety agency id number 04v575000) was supposedly completed.