2003 vw passat heated seat burnt through the leather. I had burnt sensations while driving and smelled burning..very scary and dangerous. Good thing I was quick thinking and turned off the heated seat immediately.
2003 Volkswagen Passat seats complaints
Page 3 of 4: complaints 41 to 70 of 97, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While my husband was driving our 2003 awd passat wagon with myself and two children in the car, the driver seat caught on fire. At the time it caught fire, the heated seat was on setting 3 for no more than 5 minutes. Luckily, my husband was able to pull off the road, exit the vehicle, and turn off the heated seat before he was burned and/or a large fire erupted.
I turned on the driver's heated seats when I felt them hotter than usual, seconds later I smelled something burning and then I saw smoke coming up from the left side by my seat. I jumped out of the car and found flames visible coming from inside the seat. I put the fire out. I called the dealership and they are supposed to fix it.
My 2003 volkswagen passat has a seat warmer. One morning, it began to burn on my leg; I noticed the leather in one corner was melting. One of the wires for the seat heater was malfunctioning and pressing against the seat. I notified my local dealer and vw of america. They were unwilling to fix the problem because the car was no longer under warranty, even though it was only three years old. It seems to me that this is not only a defect, but also a safety hazard.
Use of driver's side seat heater created burning sensation in the region of my left hip and scent of singed/burning material arose from the seat. The seat heater was immediately turned off, however a burning smell persisted for 3-5 minutes. I have use this feature in the same vehicle without incident for 2.5 years prior to this occurrence.
Dt*: the contact stated while driving at 20mph, the seat warmer started smoking although, no flames were visible. The vehicle was pulled to the side of the road and the ignition was turned off. The contact noticed a hole in the seat from where the smoke was coming from. The vehicle was towed to the dealership where proper repairs were made.
Heated seat in car malfunctioned and burned a hole in the seat. No injury occurred, but if left unattended this could be a fire or safety hazard.
The heated seats in my 2003 vw passat had a malfunction and burned through the cushioning and pants that I was wearing. Looks like a large cigarette hole on the left side of my front driver seat.
While driving with heated seats on, noticed burning in my left thigh. Smelled smoke, burned my index finger in smoldering hole in seat. Turned off heater and noted just light smoke. Vw says it was a recall item, but I never received notice (original owner). They will replace it.
On the morning of nov. 18, 2005, I was driving my 2003 volkswagen passat though my neighborhood. It was a cold morning, so I had the driver-side seat warmer activated at level 4 (highest setting is 5). After several minutes, I noticed the smell of something burning. At first I discounted it as merely the smell of the car's heater or something external. But I soon felt excessive heat on my buttocks and stopped the car, leaving it running. When I got out and looked at the seat, there was a smoldering hole about one-quarter of an inch in diameter on the back-left surface of the leather seat. The seat warmer unit had burned a hole though the seat surface and, were it not for my wool pants, could have burned my skin. I immediately took the vehicle to the service department of my local dealer, gossett volkswagen. The service assistant told me this problem was not uncommon and that it the heating element and seat would be replaced at no charge. However, because some of the necessary parts had to be ordered, I will take the vehicle back to the dealer at a later date. The service assistant instructed me not to use the seat warmer feature in the interim. While I am concerned about the obvious equipment failure, I am more concerned that such an event could ignite the seat cover, the driver's clothing or other combustible items, possibly causing an accident and/or bodily harm.
I recently was notified of volkswagen's customer satisfaction campaign m2 concerning seat heaters for 2002-2003 vw passats. I have had less than an adequate response from both the dealer and the vw customer care center. You can download a copy of the original letter from vw from my ftp server using the following link: you can download a copy of my response to vw using the following link: if you cannot access either file, please contact me so that I can determine an alternate method to send the information to the federal safety agency -- this form limited size to 2,000 characters.
I drive a 2003 vw passat and while driving a two lane road the seat heater inside the leather seats ignited burning through the seat, burning a hole in my pants and burning my behind causing me to swerve off the road and exit the vehicle to avoid other injury as the seat burned. This has been apparently reported hundreds of times yet vw refuses a recall. Vw agreed to replace the seat and pants but refused any other compensation for injuries sustained.
Dt: the contact stated the driver's seat burned the contact's leg while using the seat heater. Also, she pulled the muscles in her back and hip when she jumped out of the vehicle. The vehicle is at the dealership being repaired. She is concerned that the same type of seat is being used to replace the current seat.
While driving, I turned on the driver's seat warmer to position 5, within 1 minute, I smelled something burning, smoke was rising from my seat, I felt a hot burning sensation under my left upper thigh and realized the seat warmer was on fire. I stopped the car, turned off the seat warmer. The seat warmer burned through my leather seat and left damage about the size of a quarter. Contacted local vw dealer (martens volkswagen, bethesda, md) was asked to bring car in immediately, electrical system checked, seat warmer disconnected, driver's seat will be replaced.
After turning on driver's side seat heater to 5, within 2 minutes noticed burning smell, felt hot burning sensation on left buttock and smelled and saw smoke. One centimeter burn hole in seat. Terrible burning smell in car. Turned off seat heaters immediately, seat smoked for 10 more minutes.
On a cool night about a week ago, I turned on the heating element in my 2003 volkswagen passat gls 1.8t (driver's side seat). After about 30 seconds I felt a sharp burning sensation in my left thigh, and smelled a burning smell. I stopped the car, shut off the seat heater, and when I got out of the car I noticed a small burned hole in the left side of the driver's seat base. The heating element burned through, damaging the seat (and burning my thigh). This is a dangerous problem that needs to be addressed by vw before someone gets seriously hurt! I am making arrangements to have the problem fixed (including a full seat replacement to fix the damaged !).
Drivers seat caught on fire within 30 seconds of starting vehicle, left cigarette size burn hole in seat, drivers pants, and left burn mark on drivers buttocks.
Dt: consumer owned volkswagen passat 2003. The driver's seat would automatically go forward while consumer was driving. Consumer was unable to reach seat controls, but later she found that they would not work anyway. The seat motors were replaced twice. The last time was less than six months ago. On july 29, 2005 consumer's vehicle was involved in an accident. The seat pushed consumer into the steering wheel and she was not able to move. Then vehicle struck something on the side of vehicle and came to a stop. Consumer was able to manually move seat backwards. Consumer stated that manufacturer knew about problem. Consumer sustained neck injuries, and she was unable to walk with cane because of neck injury. Suffered pain in head and shoulders.
I was driving my 2003 vw passat down the highway in dallas morning rush hour. I turned my heated seat on and I was forced off the road by an extreme heat on my backside/leg. I did not know if the seat was on fire or what. The seat had melted leather and left a superficial burn on my rear end. The seat will spark and smoke if the heater is turned on. I want out of this lease!!! The car is not safe and upon research this is happening a lot.
I turned on my seat heater one morning, I smelled smoke and the leather seat was smoking. The seat heater malfuntioned and almost burnt me as well. I pulled over and it burnt a hole completely through my leather seat!!!
Seat heater overheated, burning seat cover and driver's leg.
While driving in town with the driver's seat heater on 5, my wife felt a burning sensation on her thigh and burned her finger when she reached down to feel what was happening. She pulled over and found a 2cm hole burned through the leather. When I took the vehicle to herb easley motors (our local vw dealer), the service manager insisted that the burn was from an external source (no one in our family smokes...). He refused to fix the problem (vehicle has 22,000 miles and is under full warrant)y, and he claimed his vw regional representative had told him they would not cover repair of the vehicle. When I contacted vw consumer care, they arranged for me to work with cable volkswagen in oklahoma city. Cable told me they have fixed "dozens" of these seats, and they knew exactly where the problem was without my telling them (they also said they have only seen the problem in the driver's seat, which is contrary to what others here are saying...). I had to drive 150 miles for cable vw to inspect and order parts, and we are now awaiting backordered parts for the repair (they've warned me it could take months for the parts because of the volume of repairs being made). Vw insists there is nothing they can do to compensate me for having to go to another state to have the problem fixed or the two months of infuriating runaround from herb easley, their authorized service location.
Front driver's seat heating devise malfunctioned. The heater burned a hole through the seat, and through my shirt. After 8 weeks, the seat was replaced and a "fix" was done to the passengers side seat. The new seat does not heat well.
A hole was burt into the driver's seat when the seat heater was left on. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.
My wife and I had made 2 short drives within the span of about 1/2 hour with the passenger seat heater set at various intervals from 5 (high) to 3 (medium) and then we stopped to eat (~45 minutes). On the trip home, within 2 minutes with the seat heater set to 5, my wife felt a burning sensation on her leg and we smelled some kind of odd odor. She shut the seat heater off and moved off the hot spot. Upon further inspection, the cloth seat had been burned through. My wife also had a burn on her leg. The dealership told me that vw has changed manufacturers and will replace the defective seat as the car is under warranty. I asked about the driver's side but because there is not an official recall, they cannot replace it. I'm sure a driver's seat going amok could cause a crash. Consequently, even though this was an extra charge item on the car, we'll be afraid to use the seat warmer for fear it too will overheat and burn us. Note: not sure if "was there a fire" should be yes. There was no flame but there sure was a burn.
Driving my 2003 vw passat I had the seat warmer on. I simultaneously smelled burning and felt burning in my butt. I turned off the seat warmer immediately. I was on the highway with my wife and 7 year old son. We were near an exit and exited the highway. I pulled to the side of the exit ramp and discovered that the heating element had burned through the seat. The hole was a bit smaller than a dime. The smell was pungent but cleared out when we opened the window.
While driving 25-30 MPH the heater in the driver seat over heated and burned a hole through the seat and the consumers wool coat. The dealer and the manufacturer were both notified. *jb seat cover and element had to be replaced.
While driving with the seat heater turned on, noticed that the seat became very hot, and it starting feeling like it was burning my legs. Smelled smoke, and realized the seat was burning; the seat heater had burned a hole through the fabric of the seat under my legs and was filling the car with smoke. I managed to turn the seat heater off, which stopped the seat from further burning. I called the dealership where I had purchased the vehicle and set up an appointment to have the seat replaced.
While driving 30 MPH driver's heated seat burned through the seat and consumer's pants. No injury was reported, and the dealer was notified.
Seat heater in 2003 vw passat was turned on. Approx. 3 minutes later the heater burned my jeans, and my skin. I looked down to see what was happening and saw smoke coming out of my seat. I turned the seat heater off and extinguished the smoldering seat. Went to vw dealership and they had to order the part b/c there are none available in the us right now.
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