I'm writing you this email after what happened on my way home from work last night. I got into my car after a day of meetings and turned on the driver's side heated seat. After about 5 minutes I realize that the left side of the seat cushion was getting very, very hot. I then noticed the smell of something burning. I immediately turned off the heated seat and then pulled into a gas station. When I got out of my car I noticed a hole burned into the left side of the seat. The burn mark is about the size of a quarter. I've attached a picture of this spot. This also cause a small mark on the jacket that I was wearing, but that's not my issue. After this happened, I also notice that my airbag light has come on my dash board. When I called my local dealer this morning to ask them about this issue and to see if they have heard about this in the past they told me they've heard nothing of this issue, but that it would be $125 just to look at it. I said no thank you, appreciated their time and hung up. I'm just shocked that with BMW being such a reputable car company, that an issue such as this would not be something they would take care of in good faith. All I want is the issue corrected.

- Lansdale, PA, USA

On December 19, 2004 I was driving my 2001 BMW 530I with the driver side seat heater in the on position. I parked the car in a parking lot, shut off the engine, and was exiting on the driver side, when I noticed that the back support portion of the driver side seat had caught on E and burned a hole through the leather interior. It also singed my winter coat that I was wearing at the time. I put out the fire and realized that the seat heater element had malfunctioned and caused the fire. To date, I've been working to have the seat replaced through BMW and its dealership herb chambers BMW of boston, but they have delayed the replacement, eventhough they have agreed to replace the same. No reason was provided for the delays.

- Billerica, MA, USA