About three years ago, we filed a complaint with BMW North America. A problem with the front passenger seat. There was smoke As a result, a hole burned through. after that an error message about the airbag came on. We also didn't know that there was a recall about this problem. we made several calls to the dealership and at the end, they offered to help with only 50% Quote to repair the seat was $2300. The car only had 142,000 miles. all the seats were in mint condition. Thank You.

- Centreville, VA, USA

Heated seating is burning my leg passenger side. Even on low.

- Fredonia, WI, USA

Passenger seat/airbag warning malfunction. This warning has been on since I purchased vehicle. It is obviously the common seat mat sensor failure. And it would appear that either my VIN isn't on the previous recall or it has expired for my year and model. But my wife sits in that seat and if we have an accident and her airbags do not deploy whose fault will that be?

- Lehighton, PA, USA

The contact owns a 2004 BMW 530I. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 25 mph, smoke started to emerge from the left side of the upper cushion of the driver seat. The heater was turned off and the smoke stopped. The contact notified the manufacturer of the failure. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the diagnosis was the heating element was the cause of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 160,000. The VIN was not available.

- Sandy Springs, MD, USA

Restrain system error message in my radio screen also air bag light came on, this message came on sudendly for no reason, car never envolved in a accident,

- Columbus, OH, USA

Started car in the morning to let it warm up and turned on seat heater. Got in car 5 min later to head to work and smoke was coming through seat material on driver seat. Seat heater caught fire and burned through leather and burnt me and my clothes. Burnt left hand thumb and index finger trying to put fire out. From searching online this is a very common problem with no dealers or manufacture of car doing anything to prevent this.

- Lake Saint Louis, MO, USA

While driving my car, with my wife as a passenger, I've noticed that the "passenger airbag off" light is still on (even though there is a passenger in the seat). I went to the stevens creek BMW dealership to diagnose the issue and they said that the reason the passenger airbag light is on is because the sensor is not sensing a passenger due to cable corrosion. That seems odd, given I keep my car in the garage and it never had any water damage. Also, I believe that it is a poor engineering on BMW's side, since in case of corroded cable or faulty sensor the default behavior should be to always keep the airbag "on". it is better be safe than sorry and (in case of accident) deploying an airbag when there is no passenger is better than not deploying an airbag when there is a passenger... this is a case of "potentially saving someone's life" vs "potentially saving a few dollars"...

- San Jose, CA, USA

While driving on highway I noticed a smell of burning matter rapidly increasing in the car, immediately followed by a sharp burning sensation in my right thigh. While half-standing I was able to maneuver my car to the highway shoulder. (which was very difficult to do safely, given the traffic was dense and moving with highway speeds.) after I pulled over, turned off the car, came out of the vehicle and looked at the seat, I noticed a burn mark on the leather, exactly where my thigh was when it got burned. It seemed that the seat warmer overheated and burned a hole in the leather. I ventilated the car from the burning odor, which gave enough time for the seat to cool down. After getting to a safer location I tested my theory by turning on the seat warmer " the issues was reproducible. I went to stevens creek BMW dealership for diagnostics and repairs. They charged me $210.88 diagnostic fee and quoted with around $1,500 for the repairs, implying that they will not fix this issue as ?a good will" since my car is too old and has too many miles on it and that it has none of the warranties left. I still think they should have fixed it as "a good will" since the dealership diagnosed a short circuit in the seat warmer. The seat warmer should have failed in a fail-safe way by not warming or at least blowing a fuse (and age & miles have little to do with poor engineering).

- San Jose, CA, USA

I was driving my girlfriend to work when out of nowhere I smelled something burning. At first I thought it was coming from my surrounding area, not my car. I continued to drive not thinking too much of it. As I continued to drive the smell got stronger. I decided to pull over at a convenience store just as precaution. When I stepped out of the car there was no smell, I open the hood, everything looked normal and there was no smell. I concluded that the smell was coming from the ventilation system. I turn of the heat, it was very cold that morning, turned off the heated seats, and continued to drive. Ten minutes later, I arrived at my girlfriend work place, that's when we realize the smell was coming from the passenger heat. We where shocked to see the right side of her seat had a two inch burnt mark it. When I got home I decided to do an internet search on that matter, and find out that's a common occurrence on this vehicle. Lucky for us, my girlfriend was wearing jean, a coat, and had her cell phone in her back pocket that morning. If that was not the case some serious injurious could have occurred. She had to get rid of the her coat, jean, and cell phone case, but that's far better than going to the hospital. I no longer use the heated seats.

- Lynn, MA, USA

My 2004 BMW 530I has both the seatbelt and airbag light on display at all times on my dashboard. These lights on are caused by a faulty front passenger seat occupant detection mat which BMW has an extended warranty on. After dropping my car to the BMW dealership to get this repaired, I was informed my extended warranty expired roughly 2 months prior and I cannot have this work performed under warranty. They charged me $140 for the diagnostics and said I would have to pay $1050 out of pocket to get repaired. I immediately reached out to BMW of North America and informed them of my situation as this occurred while my vehicle was still under warranty. I was hoping they could fix my car in good faith as this is a known issue or even provide me with a discounted repair. Unfortunately two months went by with no response. When I reached out again they said no this is not their headache and I am responsible for all costs and repairs related to this. This is a serious malfunction which I am surprised is not considered a recall. In the safety recall notice it specifically states if both warning lamps are illuminated simultaneously, BMW recommends not to use the front passenger seat until the vehicle has been serviced. Also, the safety recall notice says that the front passenger airbags will not deploy even if a sufficiently severe accident would occur and occupant protection provided by the system will not be possible. Obviously this is a huge safety issue which BMW needs to address. An extended warranty on such a sensitive matter is not sufficient and a recall should be issued.

- Sterling, VA, USA

While driving, a smell of burning matter rapidly increased in the car, then immediately followed by a sharp burning sensation in my left thigh. I stopped the car, garbed my extinguisher and looked around the seat for any signs of fire. Then I noticed a black burned hole on the seat bottom left bolster exactly where my thigh burned. It seemed that the seat warmer overheated, and burned a hole in the leather. Turning on the car and warmer again for couple seconds, resulted in sparks appearing through the hole. I contacted BMW of North America, and they informed me that the car is not covered by a warranty anymore, and that there was no recalls related to the seats issued for my car. To contact my BMW dealership for repairs. That I would be responsible for the diagnostic fee and that they might cover a portion of the repairs. Checking similar complaints on NHTSA, I am surprised BMW has not issued a recall for the seat heaters for our cars, specially since it is a serious safety issue.

- North Brunswick, NJ, USA

My vehicle is a 530I with a production date in December 2003, it is my contention that the vehicle should be subject to recall rcdnn-04V575. Despite the December 2004 notice to ntsha indicating that 100% of vehicles with the seat heating option produced between June 17th 2003 and April 30th 2004. BMW insists that my vehicle (production date in December 2003 and containing the seat heater in question) is, according to internal documents which they will not release to me, not in fact subject to the recall. What I find inexplicable and beyond belief, is that they would issue a notification to ntsha in November 2004, a full six months after allegedly remedying defects in cars produced from mid-March 2004 through April 30th 2004 without correcting those dates in the notification letter. BMW refuses to repair or even inspect my passenger side seat bolster heating element despite clear evidence that it is in fact defective and subject to the recall.

- Mequon, WI, USA

The front passenger seat occupancy detector has a fault which incapacitates the passenger front air bag. This creates an extremely unsafe passenger situation in the event of a crash. The BMW sbsr system shows fault 0095B8. This specific issue is a known BMW problem and has issued a recall, but BMW has indicated my VIN is not covered for this issue for some unknown reason.

- Plano, TX, USA

BMW recalled 2004 BMW 525I and others for the seat mat sensor. I had called them (2012-13) and they told me that my vehicle (based on VIN) wasn't part of the recall. I informed them that my vehicle's mat sensor was also defective and should be replaced by them. They, BMW usa told me that mine was not defective. I still cant understand if the rest are defective, how come mine is considered not defective when its inoperative and same problem as thousands of other 2004 525I.

- Winter Garden, FL, USA

The contact owns a 2004 BMW 530I. The contact stated that while traveling approximately 30 mph, smoke emitted from the front driver's side seat. There were no injuries. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 217,000.

- Silver Spring, MD, USA

My vehicle is a 530I with a production date in March 2004, it is my contention that the vehicle should be subject to recall rcdnn-04V575. Despite the December 2004 notice to ntsha indicating that 100% of vehicles with the seat heating option produced between June 17th 2003 and April 30th 2004. BMW insists that my vehicle (production date in March 2004 and containing the seat heater in question) is, according to internal documents which they will not release to me, not in fact subject to the recall. The malfunction described in the recall notice happened exactly as described, burning a hole through my driver seat side bolster. Despite agreeing to remedy the driver side damage to my satisfaction, BMW contends that they are under no obligation to repair or even inspect the passenger side seat bolster, which I contend is defective and was subject to the recall. I have emails from BMW stating my vehicle is not subject to the recall and acknowledging that no recall repairs had occurred they are claiming I am not entitled to view the internal documentation that allegedly shows that the defect was remedied before the vehicle was delivered off the production line. What I find inexplicable and beyond belief, is that they would issue a notification to ntsha in November 2004, a full six months after allegedly remedying defects in cars produced from mid-March 2004 through April 30th 2004 without correcting those dates in the notification letter. BMW refuses to repair or even inspect my passenger side seat bolster heating element despite clear evidence that it is in fact defective and subject to the recall. I would like that problem remedied as prescribed in the recall notice or definitive proof produced that the repair was conducted or alternatively that the redesign was in place on the passenger side seat bolster before delivery of the vehicle..

- Old Greenwich, CT, USA

My front passenger seat occupant detection mat has cracks in it and does not function properly. My front airbag may not deploy in case of an accident. There has been a recall for that part for my make model and year but BMW North America claims that my VIN number is not on the list even thought my make model and year is a part of the recall. There are also several other recalls for this particular car and again my VIN is not on the list but I have the issues listed in the recall.

- Savannah, GA, USA

The front passenger air bags is deactivated and the air bag warning lamp as well as the passenger air bag "on-off" lamp is illuminated. This issue is the same as the 2004 BMW 5 series frontal airbag recall ( #08V384000), but for some reason when I contacted BMW at 1-800-525-7417 and provided them my VIN number they said it wasn't covered under the recall. Please review and reconsider as this is a serious defect that needs to be addressed.

- Riverview, FL, USA

My car has the passenger restraint system malfunction message on the navigation screen and also the seatbelt light and the airbag light are illuminated on the dashboard. There is a recall for seat occupancy sensor below and as you can see my car falls within the criteria as the cars affected by the recall but a visit to my local BMW dealer revealed that there was no active recalls under my VIN number. This is an obvious safety issue as airbags will not deploy and the risk of being seriously hurt or killed. This is something that BMW should replace in my car under the recall as it has the same malfunctioning part such as the cars listed below. Recall id # 57362 - air bags:frontal recall date Aug 05, 2008 recall date: Aug 05, 2008 model affected: 2006 BMW 3-series summary: BMW is recalling 200,000 my 2006 3 series sport seat, my 2004-2006 5 series standard and sport seat, and my 2004-2006 X3 passenger vehicles. Depending on the manner and frequency of the front passenger's entry and exit, small cracks have developed in the mat. If this occurs, the front passenger air bags, with the exception of the head protection system, will be deactivated and the air bag warning lamp as well as the passenger air bag "on-off" lamp will be illuminated. Consequences: In this situation the front passenger air bags will not deploy even if a sufficiently severe accident would occur and occupant protection provided by the system would not be possible. Remedy: Dealers will rework the front passenger seat sensor mat so that external force application to the seat does not cause a crack to the mat. The recall began on November 6, 2008. BMW will also extend the warranty on these vehicles to 10 years from first registration without any mileage limit. Owners may contact BMW at 1-800-525-7417. Potential units affected: 200000 notes: BMW of North America, llc

- Hartford, CT, USA

The front passenger seat sensor triggers the safety warning light on all the time. It may affect the airbag operable. This is a known issue and was subject of a voluntary recall program in 2008 by BMW. Despite many other car owners (as evidenced by complaints to NHTSA and online car forums), including myself, having this issue as described within the recall program for cars of the make and year of the production, only 200K within a specific VIN range were recalled.

- Irvine, CA, USA