2007 Mercedes Benz GL450: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Feb 3, 2025 · Seats · 190,000 miles · UT

The contact owns a 2007 Mercedes-Benz GL450. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at an undisclosed speed, he felt a sharp pinch coming from the driver’s side seat. Upon further inspection, the contact’s husband noticed an abnormal hole with smoke coming from the driver’s side seat. There was no visible fire present. No medical attention was sought. No warning light was illuminated. The local dealer was contacted; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired due to the cost. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 190,000.

Filed Jun 21, 2023 · Seats · 59,050 miles · CA · 1 injury

The contact owns a 2007 Mercedes-Benz GL450. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 MPH in the rain, there was an abnormal smoke odor inside the cabin of the vehicle. The contact stated that the vehicle then started filling up with smoke. The contact checked and became aware that the back of the front driver's seat was on fire. The contact was able to pull over and extinguish the fire with his hand. The contact sustained a little burn to his hand, but medical attention was not sought. The Fire Department was not contacted. Neither a Police nor Fire report was not filed. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that the seat needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted but no assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 59,050.

Filed Nov 18, 2020 · Seats · 96,382 miles · TX

On november 17, 2020, I turned my driver seat heater and suddenly smelled something burning. After several minutes driving I decided to turn of the heater, the burning sensation on my back was intense. Once I parked, I noticed a hole in my seat the size of a quarter! I checked my clothing and noticed it melted the elastic part at the bottom my jacket.

Filed Nov 15, 2019 · Seats · 83,000 miles · DC · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 mercedes-benz gl450. The contact stated that the driver's seat heater burned through the seat and her coat. An abnormal burning odor was detected and flames appeared. The contact extinguished the fire. There were no injuries. The vehicle was taken to euro motorcars bethesda (7020 arlington rd, bethesda, md 20814, (301) 986-8800) where it was diagnosed that the seat needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 83,000.

Filed May 8, 2019 · Electrical, Seats · 130,000 miles · TX · fire

Heating element in drivers side defective. The car seat caught on fire. Mercedes refuses to fix under warranty. Will only cover 25% of a 1400$ repair. This does not include the damage done to the seat.

Filed Jan 23, 2018 · Electrical, Seats · 99,801 miles · WA · fire

Tl-contact owns a 2007 mercedes gl 450. Contact looked online for recall for vehicle.mileage on vehicle is 99,801. Contact was going 66mph at time when drivers seat caught fireand contact was driving on highway. Mercedes heated seats recall for seat overheating and hole burning in drivers side seat. 0 recalls associated with this VIN

Filed Dec 11, 2017 · Seats · 145,000 miles · TX · fire

While driving 2007 mercedes gl450 with my wife, after driving for 1 miles from our home with front seat heating I felt burn at my back and then my wife saw smoke coming out of the seats, we stoped the car and saw drive seat was burning and made a quarter size hole in the seat, I talked to mercedes benz of plano but they didn't have a clue. Even now if I turn it on it will catch fire -

Filed May 19, 2015 · Seats · 83,000 miles · IN

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 mercedes benz gl450. While driving at approximately 20 MPH, the front driver side seat caught fire and burned a hole in the side of the seat while the heated seat feature was engaged. The contact turned the heated seat feature off and the fire was extinguished. A police report was not filed and there were no injuries reported. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 83,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Filed Feb 11, 2015 · Seats · 100,000 miles · CO · fire

We had left the home - drove approximately 3 minutes at 20 miles an hour with the seat heater on. All of a sudden the seat started to smoke - it had caught fire. We had a baby in the car, were traveling down a mountain road in aspen. We pulled over to the side of the road and thankfully were able to put the fire out with snow from a snow bank (what would have happened if it was in the summer?). There is a big hole in our car seat now and obviously - we are not able to use the seat heaters. I see from the reports here that this has happened many times with the same vehicle -- there should be a recall done for this issue on this vehicle as someone may be injured severely in the future.

Filed Dec 8, 2014 · Electrical, Seats · 106,000 miles · CO · fire · 1 injury

I was driving my family to an afternoon lunch on the 5th of december, 2014, the day was chilly and it was a good time to have the heated seats on... After about 10 minutes of driving I noticed a burning smell and thought it was something in the area (it was actually my seat lighting me on fire), needless to say the smell continued to get worse and I knew something was wrong. I looked for a safe area to pull over and identify the source of the smell, before I was able to get off the road my side started smoking and lit on fire. I frantically pulled off the road and jumped out. I then proceeded to rip of my jacket and put out the smoldering section of it. After that I noticed the car was still smoking on the left side of the drivers seat about to go up in flames, at this time my wife was pulling our 2 year old twins out of the vehicle I got back to the car to turn it off and extinguish the fire. Once I was able to diagnose the scene I found the heated seat had malfunctioned in some manner and burned a nice hole in the seat which in return lit my jacket on fire. I will get it into the shop to have the fuse taken out and make the heated seats inoperable not taking any chances.

Filed Dec 4, 2014 · Electrical, Seats · 115,900 miles · TX

After starting vehicle and turning on seat warmers, the car smelled of a burning smell and I felt a very hot spot on my back. I turned off the seat warmers to find a hole burned into the leather. All occurred on the driver's side of 2007 mb gl-450.

Filed Dec 3, 2014 · Seats · 96,000 miles · NV · fire · 1 injury

Tl* the contact owns a 2007 mercedes benz gl450. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 MPH, the seat heater was activated and the drivers side seat caught on fire. The contact sustained minor injuries to the lower back and hip which did not require medical attention. A police report was not filed. The dealer was made aware of the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the problem. The failure mileage was 96,000. The VIN was not available. Pam updated 4/30/15*cn the consumer stated the manufacturer agreed to repair the vehicle if the consumer did not file a complaint with the department of transportation. Updated 10/23/2015