Mercedes Benz GL450 fire or smoke problems

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 Dec 20, 2021 · Electrical · TX · fire

Vehicle caught fire in my garage. Vehicle was running fine 2 hrs prior. My husband entered the vehicle to run an errand and the vehicle would not start. Tons of light came on the dash, including the airbag had deployed, though the airbag had not deployed. Vehicle was off but still sounded like it was running. Windows or nothing would work. We raised the hood and was not able to discover the issue. We could smell something, but was not sure what it was. We proceeded to go inside our home, but left the garage and hood open so the smell from the vehicle would leave the garage. Couple hours later we heard a hissing sound in the garage. My husband went outside and discovered the truck on fire. Not sure where it started, when saw it was underneath the vehicle. We extinguished the fire but the fire dept was called out. Fire dept sound like an electrical issue. This could have been deadly had we not heard the sound and had the garage door open. My insurance company has been contacted.

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.