On Saturday, February 11, 2017, at approximately 4:30 pm, I had driven about 1/2 mile from home when I began to smell something burning. I was on a two-lane highway, in a 55 mph zone (E. colonial hwy, going from leesburg to hamilton). I looked around me, inside the car, and saw nothing that would produce that kind of smell. I wondered if I was smelling something outside. Then, within seconds of that thought, I started to see smoke rising, originating from under my left elbow. I was still driving, and could not see the source of the smoke. But, the smell of burning and the stream of smoke continued to grow stronger. At this point, I was approximately a mile from my home and I pulled into a parking lot (the harmony park and ride lot). I got out of the car and saw a burn mark in the lower third of the driver's seat back, in the panel of the seat nearest to the window. The mark was slightly larger than the burn mark a cigarette might make. Inside the burn mark, I could see a small, red, ember-like light glowing. I then turned off the engine. I could no longer see the ember-like light, and eventually, the smoke stopped. I called the service department of the BMW dealership in fairfax for guidance. They suggested I have the car towed to them for diagnostics. I followed their advice. Though the technician that I spoke with hadn't handled or heard of a situation like this, he suspected the lumbar heating pad in the seat back had malfunctioned.

- Leesburg, VA, USA

Smelt smoke in the car and realized it was coming from the drivers seat. The seat warmer overheated to the point it burnt thru the seat and was causing the smoke and you could see the wire was glowing red hot.

- Lebanon, OR, USA