1- turned on the driver's side seat heater 2- felt hot spot, and saw smoke coming from left side of seat. A small hole was burned in leather, and padding inside seat was black. No fire, just smoke. 3- turn off seat heater, put water on smoking hole in leather seat.

- Livermore, CA, USA

While driving with the seat heater engaged, the consumer smelled a burning odor along with rear end getting excessively hot. Consumer pulled the vehicle over, and noticed the leather seat had burn holes. Both the manufacturer and dealership were contacted.

- Wheelersburg, OH, USA

Driver seat heater overheated and caused damage to seat.

- Royal Oak, MI, USA

I own a Volkswagen 2003 Jetta wagon. The drivers side seat warmer burned a hole through the seat cover. When brought in for service I asked them to check the passenger side for the defective part and they said there was no problem. One month later I started smelling the same synthetic burning smell, and noticed a discoloration on the seat where the hot section is.

- Lockport, NY, USA

Drivers heated seat burned a hole in the seat and burned the driver.

- Covington, GA, USA

2003 VW Jetta 1.8T gls w/ leather has heated seats. Seats malfunctioned and burnt a hole through the leather. If I had been driving I would have been scorched, luckily I was still in my driveway. See here for similar incidents. forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=1113071&page=1

- Souderton, PA, USA

We own a 2002 Jetta tdi wagon and the driver seat heating device burned a hole in the seat and straight through my overcoat. This all happened within 1 mile of driving the vehicle. If I did not have a thick jacket on, I certainly would have been burned and if I did not catch it in time, a fire could have started.

- Cumberland, ME, USA

On the evening of October 30, my 2003 Volkswagen Jetta vehicle driver seat and my coat caught on fire, beginning to melt my pants to my skin. Once I realized the problem, I moved through traffic to find a safe place to park my car. I turned off the seat heater and engine heater, and waited some time to reenter the car. On Friday morning, I showed a mechanic the problem and he said I must take the car into the dealerhsip immediately. After several calls to dick hannah Volkswagen (dhvw) dealership and Volkswagen usa, dhvw fixed the seat heater defect and provided a contact to Volkswagen usa. Dhvw provided mediocore customer service, lacked willingness to fully discuss the problem without repeated prompts, had no idea whether this defect has been found in other Volkswagen vehicles and would not provide any compensation. Ultimately, I am a very unhappy dick hannah Volkswagen customer, with a car that makes afraid to drive with the seat heater feature, no compensation for my winter coat and pants, time from work and stress.

- Portland, OR, USA

Driver's side heated seat became extremely hot, burning the leather, and burning through the consumers pants, slightly burning consumer's leg. Dealer and the manufacturer have been notified.

- Torrance, CA, USA