This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
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.
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.
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
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 -
We were driving on san vicente blvd in beverly hills, my husband in the driver seat turned on the seat heaters in our SUV and about one minute later we started smelling something burning and could not right away distinguish where the putrid smell originated from. Moments later the cabin started filling with smoke and the fumes become unbearable which made us, myself, husband and our 1.5yr old cough. My husband noticed his seat was hotter than usual, and quickly realized it was the seat the fumes and smoke were coming from and quickly turned off the heater. We stopped the car, jumped out, I grabbed my son from the back seat and we found a burnt hole in the driver seat!!
- Los Angeles, CA, USA
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2 complaints -1 I was driving w/out a coat on & turned the drivers seat heater on. Then I started feeling a sharp, stinging pain on my back and started smelling the burning of what turned out to be the seat. I almost had an accident trying to get what I thought was a stinging or biting insect off my back. Once I realized it was the seat heater, I turned the seat heater off, only to find I now have a hole in my seat. If Mercedes knows they have this problem, as I have come to read here, they should warn people not to use the heaters to avoid an accident and avoid having a hole in the seat or replace the seat and heater. #2 the front air suspension shock crashed on the front of my car. My car sat in the dealership for over a month waiting for Mercedes to reengineer the air shock. Finally, they told us to buy an aftermarket and they would install. Shortly thereafter rear of the car wouldn't level and they said it was the compressor so that was replaced. But still the rear was uneven so they replaced both rear shocks and still the car wouldn't level. Then they had the nerve to tell me it was the front aftermarket and they now needed to be replaced. And the dealer told me the car was a 2007 so what should I expect. I stopped going to the dealer and instead took it to a private shop. They replaced a sensor for a minimal charge and the car has been fine since.
While driving to work this morning, I turned on the drivers side seat warmer. Less than three minutes later, I noticed a strong odor followed by a considerable amount of smoke and heat coming from the side of the seat nearest the door. I felt what I thought was something poking me in the left rear pocket of my pants, and burned the back of my knuckle checking for the source of the heat. I immediately shut off the heater and pulled off at the first safe location. I exited the vehicle (a pall of smoke followed me) and knocked the smoking embers out of the vehicle (a hole larger than a quarter is burned in the seat). I also noticed a hole was burned through my pants. Apparently, I came very close to significant personal injury, not to mention the fact of possible loss of control of the vehicle. We called the dealer and they scheduled the car for next Monday. Researching into the issue, mine is not an isolated case as there are multiple class action lawsuits and complaints with the NHTSA. Obviously, these seats are defective, Mercedes is aware, the passenger seat is next and is not safe.
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.
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.
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.
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 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
I was in my 2007 Mercedes GL450 and had driven approx. 2 miles with my front driver's seat heater on. I started to notice a strange smell and suddenly the cabin was starting to fill up with smoke. I immediately stopped the vehicle and discovered the left side of the back of my front drivers seat was on fire. Snow was on the ground so I scooped up snow to pack in the fire/hot spot which had burned a large hole through the vinyl and inside padding material. I later noticed that my jacket had burn marks and a hole in the exact location of the point of the fire.
Driving in New Jersey on route 80 West for 1-2 miles there was a strong odor of burnt wires that smell so bad and have noticed that the smoke was coming from underneath the passenger seat. It went on for few minutes where the wires actually caught on fire and melted together. Stopped the car, shot the engine off, with windows open and tried to pull the wires apart to prevent further damage.... but could not separate the wires from each other. Called the mb dealer near our location and brought the car in after the mbusa suggested towing it in and later we were told that the vehicle was safe to drive to the dealer. The local mb dealer manager I talked to was very helpful and understandable and he tries to support me the best way he could where he agreed to look at the car at reduced rate to help out to try to figure out the issue. The car is at the mb dealer now. Mbusa sent an expert to inspect the car at the mb dealer and after a week I was told that no one knows what happened. Mbusa ruled out any connections to a previous work done mb dealer on the driver seat heater. I was also told, by mbusa, that the issue is an internal and they can"?T discuss that with me and I should go thru my car insurance since vehicle was out of warranty. The dealer told me that it?"S approx. $12,000 job to replace the main harness which was responsible for this damage. I have spent so much money to purchase this SUV which supposed to be safe and reliable for me and my family and never expect this to ever happen. Perhaps we brought a lemon.
As I was driving down the road I put on the seat warmer. Approximately 1 mile later as I was about to enter the freeway I noticed an odor that smelled like smoke. I thought it was from the road being paved nearby, but then noticed that my seat was getting very hot by my lower left back. I glanced down and saw smoke, leaned forward and noticed a black hole in the seat that was glowing too. I pushed the seat warmer button off and started hitting the seat to put out the fire. I pulled over and although it was still smoking the fire appeared to have stopped. Fortunately, I was not burned too badly.
The contact owns a 2007 Mercedes Benz GL450. The contact stated that a fire erupted from the front passenger's seat. The contact was able to extinguish the fire with a fire extinguisher. A fire report was not field and the fire department was not contacted. The vehicle was neither diagnosed nor repaired to determine the cause of the fire. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 62,000.
I was driving in my son [xxx] to his school in wayne New Jersey with my gl 450 seats warmer turned on in both the drivers and passenger seats. I started smelling smoke & thought it was from outside. I opened my window, and smoke started swirling inside my car and started getting thicker within minutes. I try to search for the source of the strange smell - but no obvious clue observed. When I reached my destination I noticed that the seat has burned a hole in my suit jacket back left side. The hole in the car is on the left side of the drivers seat. I have not contacted Mercedes Benz service and would like to know what I should do if possible. I would appreciate directing me to the appropriate line to fix my seat and electrical system of my Jeep and get compensated for my suit damage asap.
After about 3 minutes of having my driver's side seat warmer on, we started to smell burning and the left side of my seat got very hot, so I turned off my seat warmer. When I got out of my car, I noticed a burn hole in my sweatshirt and then looked at my seat and it had a burn hole on it about 1/2-1" in size. What would have happened if I didn't turn it off if this happened in about 3 minutes?
I was taking my kids to school in the morning and it was cold so I turned on my seat warmer and in about 5 min. We started smelling smoke and it was coming from my door side of the car and the smoke was pretty heavy, I was also feeling a burning sensation on my left side. I turn to take a look and the seat was on fire and it caused a burn through the seat, damaging my clothing. I turned of the seat warmer and stopped the car and took the kids out for some time. I was to scared to drive my car from that point on. I am in talks with the dealership and they want to take pictures of the seat. I have also gotten in touch with my insurance company to see if any coverage can be added to replace my seat. My car has all original parts and this has never happened to me before.
I started my car in the morning and turned on my heated seats as the seats begin to warm up I started to smell smoke I was itching on my back in the area of my far on my left side and I noticed that the seat was burning I immediately turned off my heated seats and then noticed that I was stuck to the seat because the seat at caught fire there was an apparent hole in the leather on the left right side of my driver seat where it was burning. This was scary and alarming because I didn't know if it would continue to ignite.
The contact owns a 2007 Mercedes Benz GL450. The contact stated that after starting the ignition, the front driver's side heated seat was activated and suddenly there was a burning odor with smoke emitting from the seat. A small flame was also visible. The contact personally extinguished the fire. The vehicle had not been diagnosed. The manufacturer was not notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 106,366.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Garland, TX, USA