2004 Mercedes Benz E320. Consumer writes in regards to seat heater malfunction. The consumer stated she turned on the seat heater. Minutes later, she began to feel heat under her left thigh and a burning smell, so she reached down to touch the seat, and quickly drew her hand back as she burned the edge of her fingers. She immediately turned off the seat heater as that was the only thing she could think of, that might have caused the extreme heat. She pulled off the road and jumped out of the vehicle. By then, there was a finger size hole in the left side of the leather seat and the inside of the hole was glowing red and smoke was rising out of the hole. The consumer also realized the bottom left edge of her coat was also burning, and she quickly put it out. The dealer confirmed, the cause of the hole was the seat heater.

- Chapel Hill, NC, USA

The contact stated that while driving she turned on seat warmer as well as the heater and she detected the odor of something burning. She turned off the heater but not the seat warmer. She continued driving but sensed a feeling of something biting the side of her leg. She discovered a spark coming from a hole in leather seat. She experienced a small burn to her leg. There were no visible flames only sparks. She turned off the seat warmer and pulled over. To extinguish any sparks she poured water onto seat. She took the vehicle to a dealer. Mercedes will replace the seat free of charge.

- Columbia, SC, USA