BMW X3 heated seat burned hole through seat. If heated seat is turned on, visible sparks or fire will come through hole. Hole is directly below driver's left thigh. BMW has issued a recall for other models, but not the X3. The X3 is susceptible to the same issue.

- Austin, TX, USA

My drivers side seat has many times started over heating and you can smell the electrical burning. Gets real hot. I have had to turn it off it gets so hot and I always am looking for electrical fire when I smell it. Its real strong. This is dangerous, could start a fire while my car is warming up in the snowy winters. What if this caught fire under me and burnt my legs or body before I could get pulled over. Regardless its faulty and dangerous.

- Sevierville, TN, USA

My passenger seats seatbelt light comes on and airbag light comes on when there is just a purse in the seat. It beeps over and over until you click the seatbelt when no one is in it. I know that it feels weight. But it's supposed to be around 45 lbs. Not 10lbs. I will keep a watch on this to see if its having airbag issues with a adult sitting in it. Just like the recall on the drivers side as well, already.what happens if something happens before the new parts are out to fix this recall?? little to late.

- Sevierville, TN, USA

Due to cold weather, engaged the driver side seat heater. Noticed a sharp pain in my leg and then began to smell and see smoke. Fortuneatly, I was quickly able to realize the seat heater appeared to have a short in it, and turned off before burning through the leather and setting my cloths on fire. I will be contacting my local BMW dealership to see what, if anything they are will to do. I feel there should be a recall before someone is seriuosly hurt or killed. The engine was idling when seat heater was on. I was backing out of driveway and driving down street when I noticed. If I would have had seat heater on and then stepped away from vehicle as it was warmimg up, I am confident the driver seat would have caught on fire or at least severly damaged it.

- Mckinney, TX, USA

While driving less than 5 minutes with driver seat heater on, smelled electrical smell, felt pain in leg, then felt shock/burn. Not sure which. Turned off seat heater. Electrical smell comes and goes. Small burn hole in seat. Not able to use seat heater anymore.

- Simpsonville, KY, USA

While driving my X3 at interstate speeds, I activated the driver side seat heater. Approximately two to three minutes later, my upper leg began feeling very hot and it started smelling like something was burning. I lowered the seat heater temperature from the hottest setting to the lowest/coolest setting, and the temperature remained the same - was extremely hot. A short time later, I also saw smoke. When I was able to pull over, I saw a hole on the seat where the seat heater had burned through. It had also burned through the coat I was wearing creating a hole. Called the BMW dealership to see if they would repair and/or replace the seat heater and seat, and they refused saying they would not pay for the repair since there was not a recall for this defect. Called BMW na and received a similar response.

- Knoxville, TN, USA

The car is equipped with seat heaters. One of the heating elements failed, overheated and burned through the seat surface. In doing research, this appears to be a problem with the vehicles. BMW did do a recall on the X5, but does not show a recall on the X3. On various sites, this issue has occurred many times with owners, some with the vehicle catching on fire. I found complaints on the following sites; carcomplaints.com, bimmerfest.com and arfc.org. Just on carcomplaints, this complaint is shown 23 times; madbury, nh, portland, or, westfield, in, derwood, md, tampa, fl, annapolis, md, louisville, ky, bergenfield, NJ, holderness, nh, Liberty township, oh, laurel, md, novi, mi, cromwell, ct, prairie village, ks, hillsborough, nc, daly city, ca, alexandria, va, saginaw, tx, bethesda. Md, pittsburg, pa, selah, wa. Same issue with each. BMW of North America was contacted and their response was "it's a part of wear and tear....no offer to assist" from BMW na. Yet, the issue has continued to arise and BMW na did replace the heater element and seat surface in some instances, making the replacement a matter of preference or discrimination, or dealer's opinion of the car owner versus correcting the manufacturing/design defect problem. I would request the assistance of NHTSA to review this matter and protect the public from hazardous over-heating/ fire threats. I was fortunate to have been just getting into the vehicle and smell the burning leather and turned off the seat heating system before a fire could occur.

- Oklahoma City, OK, USA

While idling for less than five minutes with the seat heat turned on, I smelled smoke but wasn't sure where it was coming from and ignored it. After driving home I found that there was a hole burned through the leather driver's seat and an exposed wire was showing through the hole. Luckily my jacket didn't catch on fire. The outside temperature was in the mid 20S at the time.

- Madbury, NH, USA

While driving smelled something burning and also realized my upper leg was in pain. Turned off the seat warmer and investigated after reaching my destination. There was a scorch mark in the seat near the bottom left bolster. Lucky this didn't cause a fire or bodily injury.

- Portland, OR, USA

The driver's side seat has 2 burn holes where the heater has burned through. Often there has been a burning sensation where the holes are. Until it actually burned through we just thought that it was overly hot. We have an appointment to have it repaired. I am surprised that BMW has not recalled this item already.

- Westfield, IN, USA

Driver side heated seat switch was turned on while driving. Few minutes after switch turned-on, burning smell was felt inside the car. Stopped the car and checked the engine (first guess). It was not from the engine. Sat on the seat and then realized the fume was coming from the seat. The driver seat was burned, my pant bottom was burned and my butt was also burned (not serious).

- Derwood, MD, USA

The contact owns a 2007 BMW X3. The contact stated that the front passenger side air bag sensor illuminated and dimmed intermittently even though the front passenger seat was unoccupied. The air bag sensor would not illuminate when a passenger occupied the seat. The dealer stated that the front passenger seat needed to be replaced. The test plan indicated that the sensor was defective from the local dealer. The vehicle was not repaired and the manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 91,000. Updated 08/19/14 BMW agreed to pay half of the charge for the repairs. Updated 08/21/14

- Tampa, FL, USA

The heater element in the heated seats driver's side burned through the leather and my clothes.

- Annapolis, MD, USA

While riding in car, passenger (my wife) turned on seat heat and it got very hot, began to smoke and burned 2 holes in vinyl seat back near right bolster. It burned a hole in her sweater, but we realized what was happening, pulled over and turned off seat heat immediately avoiding a burn to her skin. Hoping it was a fluke, I attempted a vinyl upholstery repair with a kit, but it too melted away when I tested the seat heater. I will not run the seat heater again on either the driver or passenger side until this can be addressed by bmwna. This is very clearly a serious and well documented issue that could result in fire and/or injury.

- Louisville, KY, USA

The passenger seat heating element got so hot that it started to smoke, burnt through the leather and burnt my wife's coat and leg.

- Bergenfield, NJ, USA

Heated seat was on "medium" setting, within one minute I noticed a burning smell then felt pain in left leg. Heated seat element burned through seat material and burned pants! no real injury but seat was hot enough to burn through the leather and my pants. Seems extremely dangerous.

- Holderness, NH, USA

My husband and I had just gotten in the car and turned on the seat heaters and not even 2 minutes later, he started smelling smoke...he turned the seat heater off and when we got out of the car, there was a pea sized burn in the driver's seat. He also had a burn mark on his jeans that went through to his wallet. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but we had our 3 dogs in the car headed to the vet and this could have caused major problems. I certainly hope this is a problem that BMW will accept responsibility for fixing...

- Bixby, OK, USA

Driving vehicle noticed a burning smell, at first thought it was coming from outside of car, then while in heavy traffic and unable to pull over felt a burning pain on thigh. Immediately turned off seat warmer and tried to pull over. Found that drivers side seat warmer had burnt a hole thru the leather seat cover and burned my pants. This could have very easily caused a wreck!

- Liberty Township, OH, USA

The contact owns a 2007 BMW X3. The contact stated that the driver's seat emitted a strong burning odor. The contact found that the driver's seat was on fire and had burned through her clothing, injuring the contact. The contact was able to extinguish the fire by pouring water on the seat. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to have a diagnostic performed but was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 68,000.

- Laurel , MD, USA

On Monday, February 25, 2013 my wife turned on the driver's-side seat heater and approximately one minute later she smelled smoke. She realized that her clothes were on fire and stopped and jumped out and the seat-heater had burned through the leather seat and was burning her coat.

- Novi, MI, USA