Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SEATS - FRONT ASSEMBLY - SEAT HEATER/COOLER | |||||
| 9130103 | 02/28/2006 | 10019466 | Driver and passenger front heated seats nonfunctional. *tt | 03/15/2006 | |
| SEATS - MID/REAR ASSEMBLY | |||||
| LI91-22-P-048771 | 02/05/2010 | 10034608 | Mercedes: the electrically folding 3rd seat row makes noises while folding up and down, or the folding function does not work at all. a warning message about locking the 3rd seat row may also appear in the display. *pe | 12/10/2010 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEATS | |||
| 11/15/2012 | 69900 | 1 | |
| After driving for a few minutes, my husband smelled something burning. he could not figure out where it was coming from until he felt his back being burned. he immediately turned off the heated seat and pulled over. there was smoke and a hole burned through the seat about 2 inches in diameter. the seat burned a hole through his fleece jacket & t-shirt leaving what looked like a cigarette burn on his back. if my husband had not been driving my car, i probably would not have made the connection that it was caused by the heating mechanism, because i thought that only the bottom of the seats were wired for that. this occurred on the back portion of the seat on his left side. i just fear that someone would panic or it could turn into a full blown fire (i am sure we were just seconds away from seeing flames if the mechanism had not been turned off so fast). furthermore, if we were driving on the highway at a higher speed it very easily could have caused a fatal accident because it caused him to veer into the other traffic lane (luckily no cars were in the lane at the time). i have read many stories about this happening to other people and i have checked all online sources for safety recalls on this car. what a disservice it would be if mercedes does not replace this seat and make it right free of charge. one bad accident is too many, we should not wait until someone gets badly burned or killed before something is done. we have an appt. to drop off the car next week for evaluation of the problem and the service advisor at the dealer has been very helpful so far, so i am hoping for a positive outcome. but i could not go without reporting this because it is a very serious safety risk and i would hate to see anyone else get injured. it is clearly a manufacturing/electrical problem and the driver has no control over it's spontaneous occurrence. *tr | |||
| 11/15/2012 | 69900 | ||
| After driving for a few minutes, my husband smelled something burning. he could not figure out where it was coming from until he felt his back being burned. he immediately turned off the heated seat and pulled over. there was smoke and a hole burned through the seat about 2 inches in diameter. the seat burned a hole through his fleece jacket & t-shirt leaving what looked like a cigarette burn on his back. if my husband had not been driving my car, i probably would not have made the connection that it was caused by the heating mechanism, because i thought that only the bottom of the seats were wired for that. this occured on the back portion of the seat on his left side. i just fear that someone would panic or it could turn into a full blown fire (i am sure we were just seconds away from seeing flames if the mechanism had not been turned off so fast). furthermore, if we were driving on the highway at a higher speed it very easily could have caused a fatal accident because it caused him to veer into the other traffic lane (luckily no cars were in the lane at the time). i have read many stories about this happening to other people and i have checked all online sources for safety recalls on this car. what a disservice it would be if mercedes does not replace this seat and make it right free of charge. one bad accident is too many, we should not wait until someone gets badly burned or killed before something is done. we have an appt. to drop off the car next week for evaluation of the problem and the service advisor at the dealer has been very helpful so far, so i am hoping for a positive outcome. but i could not go without reporting this because it is a very serious safety risk and i would hate to see anyone else get injured. it is clearly a manufacturing/electrical problem and the driver has no control over it's spontaneous occurence. | |||
| 10/31/2012 | 124125 | 1 | |
| I started the vehicle and as it was a cold morning i put my drivers seat heater on. shortly after putting it on i felt a burning on the left side of my back, i pulled the car over and noticed a fire on the lower portion of the drivers seat(back wing). the fire burned through my jacket and burned my lower back. *tr | |||
| 10/31/2012 | 124125 | ||
| I started the vehicle and as it was a cold morning i put my drivers seat heater on. shortly after putting it on i felt a burning on the left side of my back, i pulled the car over and noticed a fire on the lower portion of the drivers seat(back wing). the fire burned through my jacket and burned my lower back. | |||
| 05/12/2011 | 104500 | ||
| Seat warmer malfunction, i was driving and had to pull over as my seat warmer created a fire inside my seat and burned 3 holes thru my seat and singed my clothing. drivers side seat on left side of seat. mercedes ml 350 2006 | |||
| 02/10/2011 | 57940 | ||
| I'm the owner of a 2006 mercedes benz ml350 4matic, currently at 58645 miles with outside extended warranty untill 2013. recently i had the heated seat turned on which i started the car and after about 2 minutes i smelled a burning smell coming from inside the cabin and then started seeing smoke coming from the left side of the driver side seat bolster aroung the waist area. i found a hole burnt the size of a nickel and smoke was coming out from it. it was bright red as i could see inside the hole i immediately turned off the heat seat and slowly the burning went away. i took my car to a mercedes benz dealer the next and they denied that there is no heating element in that part of the seat and refused to cover under outside warranty. at the dealership i did try to turn the heated seat on but no smoke was coming out so i wasn't able to proof the seating element was actually causing the problem. but i read numerous incidents online with the same exact problem | |||
| 08/20/2010 | 64000 | ||
| I was driving my 2006 mercedes ml 350, with the seat warmer turned on. i noticed a smell of smoke coming from inside the vehicle, so i turned off the seat warmer and the smell went away. the next day i discovered that the seat warmer had burned a small hole in the seat covering on the left side of the driver's seat just above the driver's waist. when i took it to the dealer, they told me that the vehicle was out of warranty, and that it would cost $800-$1000 to correct the problem. the mechanic that i talked with 1-on-1 told me that they get this problem frequently. since the day of the burn through, i have not used the seat warmer. i feel very fortunate that i noticed the smoke and shut the seat warmer down before the situation resulted in a fire or personal injury. systems with these types of risks should have some kind of extended warranty coverage when they fail, to help cover the risk of fire or injury. | |||
| 11/08/2010 | 55000 | ||
| About 2 minutes after turning on the driver's seat heater, the driver's seat caught on fire. a hole burned through the driver's seat and burned my back. luckily, i recognized the problem quickly enough that i was only slightly burned. my husband and my 1 year old daughter were in the car with me. i was driving at the time, so my clothes could have caught fire. if we had turned on the seat warmer while warming up the car, the entire car could have gone up in flames. | |||
| 10/20/2010 | 91000 | ||
| 2006 mercedes ml350 at 91,100 miles driver smelled a burning smell and later found a burned hole in the drivers seat, driver noticed smell when seat warmer was turned on. dealership is requiring the driver to pay for the repairs. this isn't normal wear and tear and is extremely dangerous to the driver as well as other drivers should the seat catch a flame. why is there no recall? | |||